ACIPENSERID^. 279 



position. The Bony Ganoids on the whole approach the Teleostei, especially such 

 forms as Lepidosteus and Amia, which have lost their ' spiracle,' and, in other 

 things are less than typical, as Ganoids." Respecting the development of the 

 skull, larval sturgeons have, for a few weeks, their lips and throat beset with true 

 teeth, which are moulted before calcification has fairly set in. 



Genus I Acipenser, Artedi. 



Huso, Sturio, Sterleta and Helopa, Brandt and Ratzeburg. Lioniscus and 

 Antaceus, Fitzinger. 



Definition as in the family . The rows of bony plates along the sides of the tail 

 not confluent. The end of the tail surrounded by fin rays. 



The sturgeons were divided by Rafinesque into two groups : Sturio with five, 

 Sterletus with three rows of bony plates. Brandt divided them into five : 

 (1) Body shields distinct. Huso, snout acute or obtuse, more or less cartilaginous 

 and pellucid. Sturio, snout obtuse or awl-shaped, covered with bony shields : 

 not pellucid. Helops, snout elongated and covered with bony shields. (2) Body 

 shields overlapping. Sterlata, snout awl-shaped, covered with bony plates, not 

 pellucid. Fitzinger placed them in two sections (A) Dorsal scutes sloping 

 in front, and highest behind, ending in a point, and open up to it. (B) Dorsal 

 scutes sloping on both sides, highest in the middle, ending in a point. These 

 sections were subdivided into five more. But great variation in the form of the 

 dorsal scutes occurs with age, while they are most prominent in the young. 

 Also the form of the snout is subject to considerable modifications in specimens 

 of the same species. 



The species in this genus appear to have been rather unduly multiplied. 

 Dr. Giinther observes that " the number of lateral shields, considered by 

 some naturalists (who have compiled their descriptions from the accounts given 

 by different authors) to be variable, proves to be very constant, young immature 

 examples having generally a few less, the hindmost on the tail not being 

 developed." In a specimen in my own collection from Torbay, 4 ft. 10 in. 

 long, there are 31 scutes on one side, and 33 on the other; in a second, from 

 Margate, 5 ft. 4 in. long, there are 27 on one side and 28 on the other. In 

 the three specimens described by Sir J. Richardson, they had respectively 29-32, 

 30-32, 38-40. 



Some sturgeons appear to pass their entire lives in fresh water, but the 

 majority are anadromous, ascending from the sea to breed in rivers and lakes : 

 while hybrids have been recorded. 



A sturgeon is a Royal fish, and by an unrepealed Act of Edward II, it is 

 enacted that " the king shall have the wreck of the sea throughout the realm, 

 whales and great sturgeons " taken in the sea or elsewhere in the realm, except 

 in certain places privileged by the king. 



The size to which sturgeons attain partly depend upon the waters in which 

 they reside : one of the islinglass form, Acipenser huso, was captured in 186'J at 

 Saratoff which weighed 2760 lb., while one in 1813, near Sarepta, was 3200 lb. 

 Some which have been hooked in Russian waters are asserted to have been too 

 large to permit of their being dragged out. This species has been said to have 

 occurred in British waters, but the information is not conclusive : judging from 

 the size of some captured, it does not seen improbable that one or more have 

 wandered to our shores. 



Daring the summer of 1869 attempts were made by Mr. Murray to introduce 

 the sterlet Acipenser ruthenus from Russian waters into the Duke of Sutherland's 

 river Fleet, by importing artificially impregnated ova. From 150 to 200 lively 

 young sterlets are said to have been turned out. This attempt was not successful 

 (Land and Water, July 23rd, 1881). 



Dr. Giinther, in 1870, introduced Acipenser maculosus, an Arctic and American 

 form, among the British fishes, this opinion being founded on a specimen now 



