MR. BORI.EY ON THE POISON APPARATUS OF THE WEEVER. 369 
VII. 
THE POISON APPARATUS OF THE WEEVER. 
By J. 0 . Borley, M.A. 
Read 27 th November, 1906. 
The Weever is at certain seasons of the year such a common 
fish on our Eastern Coasts, and the effects following a sting 
are so marked and painful, that it is a matter of some surprise 
that the fish, and especially its poisonous properties, have 
not been the subject of more continued and detailed study 
than has been the case. Probably the circumstance is one 
more instance of the isolation of the seafaring sections of the 
community from their land-dwelling countrymen ; an 
isolation preserved by difference of interests, of ways of life 
and even of language. Be this how it may, the fishermen 
themselves seem to have invented the only attempts at cures 
for the sting of the Weever which can be said to be generally 
known or used among them ; and of these cures not one of 
the least interesting features is that they generally include 
the burning of the body of the Weever, and sometimes the 
application of its ashes to the wound — a curious little remnant 
of sympathetic magic. 
It is the purpose of the - present short paper briefly to 
describe the anatomy of the poison apparatus of the Weeyer, 
in order to familiarise those not acquainted with the fish with 
the main features of the organs in which the poisons shown 
by Dr. Evans to possess such powerful and interesting effects 
originate. 
There are two British species of Weever, Trachinus draco 
and T. vipera. The poison apparatus is practically identical 
in structure in these two species, but in the latter, which is 
