THE COMMON STURGEON AND THE SEA MONSTER. 547 



The Common Sturgeon (Star,* Svv. and Dan. ; Storje, 

 Norw. ; Acipenser Sturio, Linn.) was found with us, and 

 on the whole of the western coast, from Finmark to 

 the Sound, as also in the more southern portion of the 

 Baltic, but is seemingly very scarce everywhere. Cer- 

 tainly it was so in our Skargard, for it was only once in a 

 time that one saw it exposed for sale in the Gothenburg fish 

 market. Those taken in the Scandinavian seas are small, 

 the usual length being from four to six feet, and I never 

 heard of one exceeding eight. Elsewhere this fish attains 

 a nruch larger size. In the river Oder, Kroyer tells us, 

 fish of from ten to twelve feet in length are not so 

 uncommon, and Bloch speaks of one in the river Elbe 

 measuring eighteen feet. It would seem to thrive well in 

 fresh water, it having occasionally been captured at Lilla 

 Edet, on the river Gotha, which is at a distance of forty 

 to fifty miles from the sea. 



The A. Lichtensteinii, Bloch, is by Nilsson considered 

 to be the young of this fish, while A. latirostris, Parn., Yar- 

 rell, is looked upon by the Professor as another variety, 

 the snout, according to him, decreasing with the age of the 

 fish. To this latter variety, he says, belongs a specimen 

 (at one time thought to be A. Huso] caught in Braviken 

 (a large fjord of the Baltic), in 1853, as well as two or three 

 others taken in the Baltic and the Sound. Kroyer speaks 

 hesitatingly of a new species, A. hospitus, Kroy., founded 

 upon only an imperfect specimen caught in the Sound. 



The Sea Monster, or Northern Chimaera (Haf-Mus, 

 Sw. ; Hav-Mus, Dan. [both implying sea-mouse] ; Hav- 

 kaf \_i. e. sea-cat], Norw. ; Chimcerct monstrosa, Linn.), 

 whose proper home is the Northern seas, was not un- 

 common with us and in the Cattegat, as also on the 



* This word has greatly puzzled etymologists, some deriving it from the 

 Greek /rrelpa, others from the Spanish province Asturias, while others again 

 will have it to come from a Slavic origin. 



2 N 2 



