372 MR. BORLEY ON THE POISON APPARATUS OF THE WEEVER. 
(mostly from that part of it within and near the pockets) 
for the opportunity of making out the following particulars. 
The gland consists of — 
(a) A capsule of connective tissue, mainly of ordinary 
fibres, but some elastic. 
(/3) An exceedingly rich network of capillary blood vessels 
in this capsule. These seem entirely confined to a in the 
wide pear shaped end of the gland, but nearer the tip pass 
among the secreting cells. 
(y) Extremely large secreting cells elongated in shape and 
arranged in radiating columns. These completely fill the 
gland except for narrow spaces in the centre occupied by the 
secreted substance. 
The secretion product appears to be in two states. There 
are, first, masses of finely granular material, readily staining 
red with carmine, and secondly, highly refringent masses of 
colloidal appearance, staining yellow with picric acid and 
very little if at all with carmine. In sections both are found, 
but only one, the colloidal, within the cells. It is found in 
the terminal cells of the columns referred to as radiating 
inward, and therefore near the central masses of secretion. 
In some cases a whole column of cells will be replaced 
by a granular mass which reaches from centre to capsule. 
Whether, therefore, the colloidal substance breaks down into 
the granular mass, or whether the whole cells break down as 
their arrangement in columns might suggest, is not clear. On 
one occasion I saw some fresh cells burst, emitting a fluid ; but 
what appearance this fluid would have borne in a fixed section 
one cannot say. In any case, however, there are present, 
plainly, either two secretions or two stages of one secretion ; 
and it is possible therefore that the various physiological 
effects of the poison may be due to different substances. 
At all events we are not surprised to find these effects other 
than simple. The very ample blood supply of the gland is 
worthy of note. It is highly probable that there is a perpetual 
waste of secretion into the sea, though this is minimised by 
the closeness with which the sheath fits the spine ; and secretion 
would, if this be so ; need to be rapid in order to keep up 
