G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 213 



spoon, the fish seeming to enjoy it very much. After feeding 

 she returned it to the pond. The writer avers this to be a 

 fact, although he evidently scarcely expects it to be believed. 

 2 A, 1SV0, November 12, 348, and November 19, 360. 



STONES IX THE STOMACH OF CODFISH. 



Anions; the curious things connected with the codfish is 

 the frequency with which large stones are found in the stom- 

 ach. These are of various sizes, sometimes, in a large fish, 

 weighing many pounds ; and it is a popular belief among fish- 

 ermen that these are taken in just before a storm for the pur- 

 pose of anchoring themselves during the expected swell of 

 the sea. This is supposed to be corroborated by the fact 

 (if it be one) that all the fish taken before a storm agree in 

 this peculiarity, whereas at ordinary times nothing of the 

 kind can be detected. 2 A, August 12, 92. 



TEETH OF THE STURGEON. 



To those who are accustomed to consider our American 

 sturgeon as a comparatively worthless fish (large numbers, 

 indeed, when captured, being thrown away as of no value), it 

 may be a matter of surprise to know that a small European 

 species, the sterlet, is among the kinds offish most highly es- 

 teemed in Russia. Efforts are now being made to introduce 

 this species into Great Britain by transporting the ova, and 

 about two hundred young fish have already been turned out 

 on the estate of the Duke of Sutherland. A very interesting 

 fact was observed during the development of these fish, name- 

 ly, that immediately behind the lips of the sterlet, just es- 

 caped from the egg, were found eighteen pretty strong curved 

 teeth, with which they fought each other quite ferociously. 

 11 A, January 3, 1871, 11. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAMPREY. 



A memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences of St. Pe-' 

 tersburg by Mr. Owsjannikow, on the development of the river 

 lamprey {Petromyzon fluviatilis), confirms the observations 

 previously made in regard to Ammocoetes, being the larval 

 stage of the same fish. As is well known, this latter form 

 was for a long time considered a distinct genus of the lam- 

 preys, maintaining, as it did, to the age of two or three years, 



