ACrPEXSEU HUSO. 4]t) 



sieve. They are tlieii suited iieeorcliug- to the taste of the markets, packed in 

 barrels, and exported. The commonest kind is the pressed caviare. From 

 this only the larg-er and strong-er portions of connective tissne are removed ; 

 it is then dried in the snn, and trodden with the foot into small kegs. A 

 superior quality is prepared by salting- the roes in long troughs, then partially 

 drying them on nets or sieves, through which they are afterwards pressed into 

 kegs. The best caviare is prepared by granulating the roe in linen sacks. 

 Tlie sacks with the eggs in them are then laid in brine, and afterwards hung 

 up for some time to dry, when the caviare is pressed into small barrels. 



The air-bladder is converted into isinglass. It is tirst washed, then turned 

 inside out, and dried. The next step is to remove the internal layer, which is 

 easily detached. The bladder is again moistened, hung in the shade, and 

 subsequently cut into strips which are stretched on the bark of a tree to dr}'. 



The isinglass yielded by the Sterlet is considered to be finer than that 

 yielded by A. hu^o. 



The total annual export of caviare from Astrakhan amounts to 3,i^40,000 

 pounds^ weight. The annual produce of isinglass is 124,000 pounds' weig-ht, 

 and the spinal cartilage, which when dried is known as " vyaziga,'' is of the 

 same weight. The ainiual value of the Sturgeon fishery in European liussia 

 is stated by M. Danilosky at 8,000,000 roubles, of which the flesh in its 

 various forms is valued at 5,000,000, the caviare at 2,250,000, the isinglass 

 at 600,000 roubles, and the vyaziga at 100,000 roubles. There can be no 

 doubt but that the Sturgeon fishery is greatly decreasing in Russia from 

 over-fishing, just as it has declined in other countries. Von Baer estimated 

 the produce thirty years ago at nearly one million poods more than it is 

 now. Yet in some localities, like the River Kur, the yield is well sustained ; 

 but, though just as many fish are taken, they are of smaller size, and with 

 the smaller size of the fish the quantity of useful products diminishes, so that 

 the yield of caviare and of isinglass is steadily declining. 



Thus, according to Sokoloif, in the middle of this century the roe of the 

 Sturgeon (probably meaning A. rnf/icDii.-i) was about one-nineteenth of the 

 total weight of the fish, in the third quarter of the century the percentage of 

 roe had diminished to one twenty-seventh, and in 1881 it was as low as one- 

 forty-fourth, so that the River Kur will probably soon cease to yield caviare 

 at all. 



