THE COMMON BRITISH STURGEON. 13 



they find at the bottom. The flesh of the Sturgeon, like 

 that of most cartilaginous fishes, is more firm and compact 

 than that of osseous fishes ; it generally contains much 

 yellow fat, and is well-flavoured, easy of digestion, and 

 very nutritious. Stewed with rich gravy, it forms a dish 

 in high request for the table. When luxury was at its 

 height in Imperial Rome, a Sturgeon was, according to 

 A.thenseus, the most honoured entree in sumptuous re- 

 pasts ; and Pliny tells us that it was crowned with flowers, 

 and the slaves who bore it into the triclinium were also 

 garlanded. Ovid calls it noble, either because of its 

 costliness or of its excellence. 



Tuque peregrinis Acipensar nobilis undis. 



At a later period the price of a Sturgeon had fallen in 

 Rome to four scudi,when a competition among the pur- 

 veyors of the Catholic dignitaries assembled to elect a 

 pope, in succession to Paul, produced an instantaneous 

 rise in the market, and Cardinal Gualtheri had to pay 

 seventy scudi for his Sturgeon. (Richler, Ichth.) In the 

 time of our first Henry, the Sturgeon was reserved for 

 the king's table, and even in the present day, when one is 

 caught in the Thames within the jurisdiction of the 

 Lord Mayor, it is called a Royal Fish, implying that it 

 ought to be sent to the Queen. In Russia and other 

 regions where Sturgeons abound, the roe dried and 

 pressed forms the Caviare of commerce ; and the swim- 

 bladder treated in a particular manner furnishes high- 

 priced isinglass. 



The editor of the present edition of British Fishes has 

 not had the advantage of personally inspecting the spe- 

 cimens that Mr. Yarrell had before him when he wrote 

 his account of the Common Sturgeon, but he has seen 

 portions of eight specimens caught in the Frith of Forth, 



