276 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the method employed by them leaves room for doubt as to the success 

 which they say crowned their efforts. 



Last spriug I was commissioned by the St. Petersburg Society of Nat- 

 uralists to make experiments with the roe of the Acipenser stellatus. 

 These experiments were made at the mouth of the Ural River, not far 

 from the Caspian Sea. In spring the Uralian Cossacks are in that place 

 engaged in extensive fisheries for various kinds of Acipenser. The 

 manner of fishing is so peculiar that it is mentioned in some well-known 

 German works.* At the end of May I obtained an Acipenser stellatus 

 with mature roe, and made the experiment of impregnation according 

 to the dry or Russian method, with previously prepared milt. The roe 

 was put on plates ; the water was changed twice a day ; and some of 

 the roe was put in a basket and placed in the river. The development 

 (at a temperature of 17° or 18° R., or about 71° F.) progressed very 

 rapidly. On the second tay a small furrow could be observed on the 

 eggs, and on the third day some of the fish had slipped out of the 

 eggs. In the river the development progressed more rapidly, in spite 

 of the lower temperature (16° R., or 68° F.), but here the roe was cov- 

 ered too much with mud and most of it perished. The development on 

 the plates was very satisfactory. It should be stated, however, that, 

 owing to the sticky character of the roe, it has to be put in single layers, 

 separated from each other as much as possible; otherwise much of it 

 will perish. After five days the young fish can easily be recognized as 

 Acipenser stellatus ; after twelve days the umbilical sac disappears en- 

 tirely, and the little fish strongly resembles the grown fish, with the 

 exception of the snout, which is not as long as in the A. stellatus, but 

 short, as in the A. huso and A. sturio. It should be noted that these 

 young fish, lik # e the young of the sterlet, have strongly developed teeth 

 (iu number ||), which are not found in the grown fish. 



By these experiments it has been demonstrated that it is possible to 

 impregnate artifically the roe of Acipenser stellatus. It has also been, 

 proved that in the Ural the so-called "saltwater fish-culture," as with the 

 Americans, may be begun with the culture of the Acipenser stellatus and 

 probably other varieties of the Acipenser. 



It is to be hoped that in the near future practical experiments on a 

 large scale may be made in the Ural. This is all the more feasible, as 

 the river for a distance of 500 versts [about 330 miles] and a portion of 

 the sea, belong to the same Cossack community, with a population in all 

 of 80,000. 



As regards the other kinds of Acipenser (A. huso, A. giildenstadtii, &c.), 

 I did not succeed in making experiments last spring, because I had no 

 assistant. This spring, however, I shall endeavor to make up for lost 

 time, and shall not fail to report the results of my experiments to the 

 German fish culturists.  • 



* Pallas, " Beise," Vol. I. Hansteeu : "Iieise-Erinnerungen aus Sibirien." "Die ura- 

 Uschen Koaackeu und der Finoltfang auf dem Urulstrom," Aim alien Waltteilen, lti73, August. 



