432 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
at the occiput in a rounded plate, which in the immature fish is pointed. The 
whole upper portion of the head is bony, and irregularly marked upon its surface. 
The snout is blunted. The eyes are small, and their diameter is less than one fifth 
the distance between them. The nostrils are double, situated directly in front of 
the eyes; the posterior is much the larger. The mouth, without teeth, capable of 
great protrusion, with fleshy, lobed lips, is situated on the under surface of the 
‘head; half-way between the mouth and the snout are situated four cirrhi placed 
transversely with respect to each other, nearly as long as the mouth. 
The dorsal fin is situated far back, at the posterior extremity of the body; it 
is deeply emarginated; its first rays are higher than its length. 
The pectorals arise from a strong, triangular plate; their first ray is very large 
and strong; the seventh and eighth are the highest; the length of the fins at 
their base are less than one half their height. 
The ventrals, which are placed far back, are subquadrangular. 
The anal fin is opposite the dorsal; its length is equal to one half its height; 
its posterior rays are equal in height to one third the height of the longest rays. 
The upper lobe of the caudal fin is nearly double the length of the lower; the 
membranous structure of this fin renders it difficult accurately to determine the 
number of its rays. 
The fin rays are as follows: — D. 38. P. 28. V. 94. A. 23. C. 125. 
Length, six to ten feet. | 
Remarks. The largest specimen I have seen, nearly six feet in length, was found 
at Deer Island. It is sometimes taken measuring even ten feet. The specimen 
above described was captured in the harbor of Provincetown, and measured four 
feet and six inches in length. 
. But little attention has as yet been paid in this country to the value of the 
sturgeon fishery in an economical point of view. The several species we possess 
might unquestionably be made useful The following observations of Professor B. 
Jaeger, contained in the nineteenth volume of Hunt's Merchants' mes for 
1848, are worthy of perusal. 
. “The principal sturgeon fisheries are, without doubt, those on the Volga, near 
Astracan, and those on the Don, which are carried on chiefly by the Cossacks of 
that country, who find this occupation much more lucrative than agriculture, which 
they neglect entirely, in spite of the very fertile soil of their lands. ges 
* The fish forms an important object of fishery and commerce to many nations, as 
well for its flesh, as for the caviare prepared from its roe, and the isinglass from 
