130 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
this distance. In all three females this distance is also 
considerably greater than the greatest depth of the 
body, while in the males it is only slightly greater or 
even less than the depth, which in the females varies 
between 81 and 88 % of the distance in question, in 
the males between 93 and 103 %. 
The usual length of the Great Weever on the coasts 
of Scandinavia is between 22 and 30 cm.; but speci- 
mens are also found up to 37 cm. or a little more in 
length. It occurs along the whole west coast, from 
Bergen in Norway to the south of Scania and into the 
Baltic as far as the coast of Prussia, where it is, how- 
ever, extremely rare. To the south it is common as 
far as the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It gener- 
ally lives alone; but at certain spots and certain sea- 
sons, periodically for a number of years, as Krgyer 
states, and especially during the summer months, whole 
boat-loads are taken in seines and bottom-nets (Danish 
bundgarn). It is greatly dreaded by all fishermen, who 
generally throw away all the Weevers they may happen 
to catch on the hook, in the net or the seine. The 
cause of this dislike and dread is the fact that the 
fisherman is often very painfully wounded by the sharp 
spinous rays of the first dorsal fin or the still stronger 
opercular spine. All these spines are furnished with a 
real poison-organ, which only needs special contractile 
muscles to be fully comparable to the corresponding 
organs of the venomous snakes. The rays of the first 
dorsal fin have on each side a comparatively deep groove, 
in which lies a small saccate poison-gland, superiorly 
attenuated into a fine duct. On the inside of the mem- 
brane of this glandular sac and of the duct we find 
an epithelium of cylindrical cells, filled with granules 
of a translucent yellow, O. 025 — O .026 111 m. broad and O.t 
mm. (or more) deep”. The poison-organ of the oper- 
cular spine is similar, but larger. This spine has on 
the outside a longitudinal ridge, the free margin of 
which is expanded on each side (upwards and down- 
wards), and thus partly covers the two glands, the rest 
of which is covered by the skin and the extensors of 
the operculum. The quantity of poison which can enter 
the wound caused by one of these spines, is of course 
extremely small; but none the less its effects on several 
occasions have proved quite equal to those of the sting 
of the viper. “A strong young fisherman near Halm- 
stad,” says Dr. Ratzky * * 6 , “had caught a Weever. In 
detaching it from the hook he was wounded in the 
finger. The wound gave him intolerable pain, and 
within an hour his arm, and even his head, were 
swollen. The swelling afterwards extended over the 
whole upper part of the body. Then followed painful 
headache and a desire to vomit. Several small blisters 
appeared along the arm. Hereto were added feelings 
of suffocation, deep mental depression and sleeplessness. 
The skin assumed a yellowish green colour over the 
whole body. Only three drops of blood had oozed from 
the wound. Several leeches were applied to the arm 
affected, and they died soon after, as if they had been 
poisoned .... The part immediately surrounding the 
wound became gangrened.” By maintaining the bleed- 
ing caused by the leeches, by giving vapour and warm 
baths and applying opium plasters to the wound, the 
pain was relieved: but it was a month before the pa- 
tient could be discharged from hospital. At the same 
time Dr. Landeberg of Stromstad wrote: “Most suf- 
ferers, who do not obtain speedy assistance, die on the 
sixth or seventh day of gangrene 0 .” On other occa- 
sions, perhaps in consequence of the patient’s consti- 
tution, the results of wounds caused by the Weever 
are, however, very slight, though violent pain always 
follows. The surest way of relieving the pain is to 
open the wound with a knife immediately and bathe it 
with cold water, dropped into the wound from a height, 
as long as any burning sensation is felt. In Bohuslan, 
says Fries, it is held to be a sovereign remedy to cut 
open the belly of the fish that has caused the wound, 
take out the liver and at once make the patient eat 
it. This remedy, strange as it may appear, is never 
omitted. “At Fredrikshavn,” writes Schmidt, “it is a 
favourite pastime of the boys to fish for Weevers in 
the harbour, and when they go fishing, they take with 
them a bottle of hartshorn or, still more commonly, 
of aquafortis, which they apply to the wound im- 
mediately, if they are stung by a Weever.” 
a According to Schmidt (1. c.) these cells have no special membrane, and he describes them, as well as the other cells in the epi- 
thelium, as supporting cells. 
6 Tidskr. f. Lakare och Pharm. 1834, p. 125. 
c Death is, however, only an exceptional consequence. Schmidt (1. c.) knew of no such case. Still, he also regards as exceptional the 
circumstance which Krcyer asserts to be borne out “by his own experience and that of others,” namely that the consequences of the sting 
of the Weever are sometimes no worse than those of the prick of a pin. 
