STUCKENBERG STUKGEON. 



G17 



by its precision of statement and correction of the I 

 errors previously abounding in civil and eeclesiasti- > 

 cal histories, firmly established his reputation. In I 

 1862, becoming librarian to Archbishop Longley, of 

 Canterbury, he was enabled to pursue still further 

 researches, which resulted in his carefnl editing of j 

 many early English chronicles. In 1866 he was 

 made professor of modern history at the University 

 of Oxford, and in 1869 curator of the Bodleian Li- 

 brary. He published 8-lect Charters and other Illus- 

 tration* nf English Constitutional History (1870). All 

 his previous labors led up to his most important 

 work, the Constitutionftl History nf England in its Ori- 

 gin find Development (3 vols., 1874-78). His freedom 

 from party spirit and scrupulous fidelity to facts 

 have laid the foundation for a better understanding 

 of English history. In 1875 he was made rector of 

 Cliolderton, and in 1879 canon residentiary of St. 

 Paul's. He held this position, together with his 

 professorship at Oxford, until 1884, when ho was ap- 

 pointed Bishop of Chester. 



STUCKEXBERG, JOHN HEN-RY WILBUR*, phi- 

 lo<opher, was born at Bramsche, Germany, Jan. 6, 

 1S3.3. Having emigrated to America in early life, 

 he graduated at Wittenberg College, Ohio, in 1857, 

 afterward studied at German universities, and be- 

 c:i:iie pastor of Lutheran churches in Iowa and Penn- 

 sylvania. During the civil war he was chaplain of a 

 Pennsylvania regiment for a year. In 1873 he was 

 made professor of theology in Wittenberg College, 

 and in 1880 he went to Berlin, where he was placed 

 in charge of the American Chapel. He assisted Rev. 

 W L. Gage in translating Hagenbach's Gerrmm Rn- 

 tioaiilisin (1866). He has published, Kinelyfive 

 Theses (1867; ; Hislnr;i of tlie Augsburg Confession 

 (1869) ; Christian Sociology (1880) ; Life nf Immnnuel 

 Knit (1882); Introduction to the Study of Philosophy 

 (1887). 



STURGEON, the largest fresh-water fish of the 



northern hemisphere, to which it is 



ScP ,y," 1 ', XX J, 1 .; exclusively confined. The sturgeon 



p. 1)11 (p. O4O . . , ' ., ... i 



Am Rep!). belongs to the primitive order of car- 

 tilaginous armored fishes known as 

 Ganoids, of which order it is probably the youngest [ 

 representative, no trace of it having been found be- I 

 yoiid the Eocene formation. In conformity with the ' 

 Ganoids it has free gills, and is more or less cov- ' 

 ored with bony plates in longitudinal rows, the tail 

 is heterocercal, and the skele'on cartilaginous. The 

 sturgeons constitute a family, Acipenserida-, with 

 two genera, of which Acipenser is the most impor- 



Stnrgeon (Acipenser ilurio). 



tant. The common sturgeons of Europe and Amer- 

 ica were classed as separate species by the older 

 writers, that of America being known as A, oxyrhyn- 

 cttu.t, but they differ but little, and are now gener- 

 ally classed together as A. stvrio. This species is 

 ordinarily about six feet in length, though in rare 

 rases it reaches a leng h of 18 feet. Its body is 

 long and slender, gradually tapering, and covered 

 throughout by large, bony tubercles. In color it is 

 of a grayish brown above, silvery on the lower sides, 

 and white below. It is found along our coast as far 

 south as Florida, entering the, rivers to spawn, dur- 

 ing which season it is taken in great numbers. The 

 flesh is white and firm, and affords excellent food, 

 though less used for that purpose in this country 

 VOL. IV. 2 o 



than in Europe. The ova of the sturgeons are very 

 small, yet the ovaries are so large as in some species 

 to make up nearly one- third of the entire fish, so 

 that the number of eggs is enormous. It may equal 

 3,000,000 for a single female. It is probably due to 

 this fact that the sturgeons remain undiminished in 

 number, despite the vast multitudes that are annu- 

 ally taken in the rivers of Europe and America. In 

 addition to the use of the flesh as food, the roe is 

 employed to make the food-substance called caviare, 

 a favorite viand in Russia. The making of caviare, 

 was formerly confined to Europe, but is now carried 

 on somewhat extensively in America, the sturgeon- 

 fisheries of the Hudson and Delaware, for instance, 

 being largely devoted to this industry. Isinglass, 

 which is made from the inner coat of the air-blad- 

 ders, is another important product of the sturgeon. 

 As an evidence of the extent of the sturgeon-fisher- 

 ies, it may be stated that more than 200 tons of cavi- 

 are yearly have been produced from the catch of the 

 rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea. 



In addition to A. slurio, the Atlantic waters of the 

 United States possess another species, A. treviros- 

 trix, distinguished from the former by its shorter 

 and blunter nose. It is less abundant, and is not 

 found north of Cape Cod. Both species frequent 

 the rivers and estuaries in great abtindance in sum- 

 mer, when they may be frequently seen leaping from 

 the water. They spawn in the lower stretches of 

 the rivers, and partly in the brackish water at their 

 mouths, where they seem to obtain food by grubbing 

 in the mud for its living creatures. Within a few 

 years the taking of the sturgeon for smoking and 

 the manufacture of caviare has attained considerable 

 importance in several of the larger rivera flowing 

 into the Atlantic. 



The Pacific coast also has two species, A. trans- 

 montanus and A. medirostris. The former of these, 

 known as the "-white sturgeon," is a large species, 

 attaining a length of 8 feet or more and a weight 

 of 400 or 500 Ibs., though seldom found of over 150 

 Ibs. weight. It abounds in the Sacramento, Colum- 

 bia, and Frazer rivers, ascending them at the same 

 time as the salmon, and is an important food-fish in 

 the San Francisco markets, where it is always abun- 

 dant and very cheap. It is little used as food in its 

 fresh state elsewhere, on account of the abundance 

 of salmon, but is smoked, and caviare made of its 

 roe. A. medirostris, the "green sturgeon," is of the 

 same size and distribution as the ""white," but is 

 much less abundant, and is not used for food, being 

 reputed to bo poisonous. 



Another species of considerable commercial im- 

 portance, A. rubicundus, has its home in the Great 

 Lakes, and in the Mississippi and its tributaries. It 

 is particularly abundant in the upper lakes, of which 

 it is the largest fish, though much smaller than tho 

 other species named. Its extreme weight is 100 Ibs., 

 and its average length less than 5 feet, though there 

 are traditions of 9-feet sturgeon having been taken. 

 It lives on the shell-fish of the lakes, spawns in the 

 early summer months, and is caught in great quan- 

 tities, the fishery lasting from September 10th to the 

 middle of October. It is not popular as a food-fish, 

 though palatable when properly cooked, but its 

 flesh is pickled and smoked in considerable quan- 

 tity, and much caviare made from its eggs. This 

 is done by pressing them through a sieve till they 

 are free from all particles of membrane, and then 

 putting them into salt pickle. 



The second genus of sturgeons, Scnpliyrhynchtts, 

 differs from that described in several particulars, 

 principal of which are the lack of spiracles, and the 

 confluence of the osseous bucklers on the tail, which 

 they entirely cover. Four species are known, -all 

 exclusively fresh water in their habitat. America 

 possesses S. platyrhynduts, which inhabits the Missis- 



