38 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River, 

 having heard from Dr. Graenicher, of 

 the Milwaukee Museum, that shovel- 

 nosed sturgeon could be collected there. 

 Mr. Ochsner, a local naturalist, was of 

 great assistance in securing a few speci- 

 mens, but as this sturgeon was not 

 caught there in any numbers, I found it 

 necessary to move on to Prairie du Chien, 

 on the Mississippi River, where the 

 shovel-nose is abundant. The game 

 warden there, Mr. Klofanda, put me in 



T he bowfin nests among the cat-tails in the shallow water of the marshes 



Catch of shovel-nosed sturgeon, or 

 for market 



touch with Mr. Elwell of MacGregor, 

 Iowa, a little city on the opposite side 

 of the river. Mr. Elwell receives quanti- 

 ties of shovel-nose, or " hackleback," as 

 they are locally called, and through him 

 I was able to obtain all specimens 

 needed, as well as a good series of local 

 fishes and much interesting data. 



The shovel-nose is one of our smallest 

 sturgeons, averaging only two feet in 

 length and about two pounds in weight. 

 The snout is flat and broad, and the tail- 

 fin tapers to a whip, 

 the purpose of which 

 is not clearly under- 

 stood. Bottom-loving 

 fish, they glide through 

 the muddy water, suck- 

 ing up fly larvse and 

 other small organisms 

 which lie on the river 

 bed or they collect in 

 the crevices of sunken 

 snags. As they swim 

 upstream in schools, 

 they are caught in the 

 trammel nets of the fish- 

 erman, who frequently 

 averages two hundred 

 and fifty pounds per 

 day, and who fishes 

 from spring until early 

 winter with the excep- 

 tion of the month of 

 August, when few stur- 

 geon are taken. The 

 flesh is smoked and sold 

 at five cents a pound, 

 while the eggs are made 

 into caviar and shipped 

 east. Eighteen hundred 

 pounds of caviar is the 

 average yearly ship- 

 ment, although as high 

 as thirty-eight hun- 

 dred pounds have been 

 shipped in one year. 



"hackleback," dressed and ready 



