14 ACIPENSERID/E. 



and as such of these as have their cranial plates present a 

 near agreement with each other in external characters, 

 and are evidently of one species, he has drawn up an 

 account of that species in considerable detail, adopting 

 for it the specific appellation of Thompson*, suggested by 

 Dr. Ball. It differs in several important characters from 

 the Ac. sturio of Heckel and Kner. These Frith of Forth 

 examples agree generally with a pencil sketch sent to Mr. 

 Yarrell by Jonathan Couch, Esq., of the cranial shields 

 of a Sturgeon caught at Lamorna in Cornwall, in May 

 1851. The species, therefore, has an extensive range 

 along the British Coasts, and may be the one to which 

 the not very appropriate name of " Sharp-nosed " has 

 been usually applied by English ichthyologists, though a 

 more comprehensive comparison is needed to establish 

 that as a fact. 



Description of a Sturgeon caught in the Frith of Forth, 

 and preserved in the Museum of the University of Edin- 

 burgh. Length nearly six feet. The barbels are rather 

 nearer to the tip of the snout than to the mouth, and 



