STAR-GAZERS AND WEAVERS. 
3 75 
Weavers. 
is moved by the stream of water continually passing through the latter, doubtless 
acts as a lure to entice the small creatures on which these fishes feed. In the 
allied Leptoscopus of New Zealand, and Ichthyoscopus, ranging from India to 
Japan, there is but a single dorsal fin ; the latter genus agreeing with the true 
star-gazers in having bony plates on the head, whereas in the former the whole 
head is invested in a smooth skin. The Indian I. inermis attains a length of 
2 feet, and is stated to live in the mud. 
The common English weaver, or sting-bull ( Tracliinus draco), 
shown in the lower figure of the illustration on p. 374, is the best 
known representative of the typical genus of the second subfamily, in which the 
eyes are more or less lateral in position, the lateral line continuous, and the hinder- 
part of the premaxillary bones devoid of an enlarged tooth; the dorsal fins being 
one or two in number. In this particular genus the cleft of the mouth is very 
oblique; the eyes have an upward inclination; the cycloid scales are very small; 
and there are villiform teeth both in the jaws and on the bones of the palate. 
Of the two dorsal fins, the first is very short and furnished with six or seven 
spines; and the lower rays of the pectorals are simple. In the head both the 
preorbital and preopercular bones are armed. The weavers have a somewhat 
peculiar geographical distribution, being found in the European seas, but unknown 
on the Atlantic coasts of America, although reappearing in Chilian waters. In 
the British seas they are represented by the greater weaver (T. draco), frequently 
measuring about a foot in length, and the lesser weaver ( T . vipera), which seldom 
exceeds 6 inches. Yarrell writes that “ the great weaver generally measures 
about 12 inches in length, but has been known to attain 17 inches; its food 
is the fry of other fishes, and its flesh is excellent. It swims very near the 
bottom, is sometimes taken in deep water by the trawl-net, and occasionally with 
a baited hook attached to deep-sea lines. When caught it should be handled 
with great caution. I have known, says Mr. Couch, three men wounded success¬ 
ively in the hand by the same fish, and the consequences have been in a few 
minutes felt as high as the shoulder. Smart friction with oil soon restores the 
part to health, but such is the degree of danger, or apprehension of it rather, 
arising from wounds inflicted by the spines of the weavers, that our own fishermen 
almost invariably cut oft' the first dorsal fin and both opercular spines before they 
bring them on shore.” The poisonous secretion, which is a modification of the 
ordinary mucus, is lodged in a deep double groove in the spines of the dorsal fin 
and gill-cover. There are numerous other genera of the subfamily, among which 
the above-mentioned Bathydraco is noteworthy as being a deep-sea fish. 
The third subfamily—regarded by many writers as a distinct 
family under the name of Latilidce —has been long known by the 
genera Latilus and Pinguipes from various tropical and subtropical seas, and is 
characterised by the body being covered with small scales, the lateral position of 
the eyes, the continuous lateral line, and the presence of a large tooth on the 
hinder part of the premaxillary bones. Especial interest attaches to the group, 
on account of the discovery of a new member off Nomans Land, Massachusetts, 
in 1879, which received the name of tile-fish (Lopliolatilus chamodeonticeps). 
An interesting account of this fish is given by Mr. B. Phillips, who, after mention- 
Tile-Fish. 
