ACCIPENSER. 115 



It seems to delight, particularly, in lying about 

 the estuaries of rivers, into which it frequently pen- 

 etrates, hundreds of miles, returning to the ocean 

 again, as the supply of food fails, or the formation 

 of ice commences, in northern latitudes. Its abid- 

 ing place is not at sea, but always on the border 

 of the ocean, where muddy bottoms predomi- 

 nate. 



Without teeth, it snaps at its prey most vigor- 

 ously, and rarely fails of overcoming the object of 

 its choice, either by artifice, or dint of extraordi- 



THE STURGEON. 



nary strength. Between the end of the snout and 

 mouth are four cirri, resembling the tendrils of 'a 

 vine, or earth worms, which the sturgeon exhibits 

 to other fishes, much to its own advantage. 



Belonging to the cabinet of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History, is the bill or spatula of the 

 spoon-bill sturgeon, of the Ohio River, which is 

 really a curiosity. Being divested of the skin, it 

 presents an osseous blade, three and a half inches 

 wide, at the further extremity, and two feet and one 



