THE STURGEON. 



283 





active at sea, of which it is properly a native ; 

 but when it comes up into our rivers, it is 

 hardly perceived to devour any thing. 



Its usual time of leaving the sea, which it 

 is annually seen to do in order to spawn, is 

 about the beginning of spring ; and after a 

 stay of a few months it returns again to the 

 sea. Their preparation for spawning is pe- 

 culiar ; their manner is to make holes in the 

 gravelly bottom of rivers ; and on this occasion 

 their sucking power is particularly service- 

 able ; for if they meet with a stone of a consid- 

 erable size they will remove it, and throw it 

 out. Their young are produced from eggs in 

 the manner of flat fish ; the female remains 

 near the place where they are excluded, and 

 continues with them till they come forth. She 

 is sometimes seen with her whole family play- 

 ing about her ; and after some time she con- 

 ducts them in triumph back to the ocean. 



But some have not sufficient strength to re- 

 turn ; and these continue in the fresh water 

 till they die. Indeed the life of this fish, ac- 

 cording to Rondeletius, who has given its 

 history, is but of very short continuance ; and 

 a single brood is the extent of the female's 

 fertility. As soon as she has returned after 

 casting her eggs, she seems exhausted and 

 flabby. She becomes old before her time ; 

 and two years is generally the limit of her 

 existence. 



However this may be, they are very indif- 

 ferent eating after they have cast their eggs, 

 and particularly at the approach of hot weather. 

 The best season for them is the months of 

 March, April, and May ; and they are usu- 

 ally taken in nets with salmon, and sometimes 

 in baskets at the bottom of the river. It has 

 been an old custom for the city of Gloucester 

 annually to present the king with a lamprey, 

 pie ; and as the gift is made at Christmas, it 

 is not without great difficulty the corporation 

 can procure the proper quantity, though they 

 give a guinea a-piece for taking them. 1 



How much they were valued among the 

 ancients, or a fish bearing some resemblance 

 to them, appears from all the classics that 

 have praised good living, or ridiculed glut- 

 tony. One story we are told of this fish, with 

 which I will conclude its history. A senator 

 of Rome, whose name does not deserve being 

 transmitted to posterity, was famous for the 

 delicacy of his lampreys. Tigelinus Manu- 

 cius, and all the celebrated epicures of Rome, 

 were loud in his praises : no man's fish had 

 such a flavour, was so nicely fed, or so ex- 

 actly pickled. Augustus, hearing so much 

 of this man's entertainments, desired to be 

 his guest ; and soon found that fame had been 



1 Henry I. of England died of a surfeit from eating 

 lampreys. 



just to his merits ; the man had indeed very 

 fine lampreys, and of an exquisite flavour. 

 The emperor was desirous of knowing the 

 method by which he fed his fish to so fine a 

 relish; and the glutton, making no secret of 

 his art, informed him, that his way was to 

 throw into his ponds such of his slaves as had 

 at any time displeased him. Augustus, we 

 are told, was not much pleased with his re- 

 ceipt, and instantly ordered all his ponds to 

 be filled up. The story would have ended 

 better if he had ordered the owner to be flung 

 in also. 



CHAP. V. 



OF THE STURGEON, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



THE Sturgeon, with a form as terrible, and 

 a body as large, as the shark, is yet as harm- 

 less as the fish we have been just describing ; 

 incapable and unwilling to injure others, it 

 flies from the smallest fishes, and generally 

 falls a victim to its own timidity. 



The sturgeon, in its general form, resembles 

 a fresh water pike. The nose is long ; the 



mouth is situated beneath, being small, and 

 without jaw-bones or teeth. But though it is 

 so harmless and ill provided for war, the body 

 is formidable enough to appearance. It is 

 long, pentagonal, and covered with five rows 

 of large bony knobs, one row on the back and 

 two on each side, and a number of fins to give 

 it greater expedition. Of this fish there are 

 three kinds ; the Common Sturgeon, the Ca- 

 viar Sturgeon, and the Huso or Isinglass Fish. 

 The first has eleven knobs or scales on the 

 back; the second has fifteen ; and the latter 

 thirteen on the back, and forty-three on the 

 tail. These differences seem light to us who 

 only consider the animal's form ; but those 

 who consider its uses find the distinction of 

 considerable importance. The first is the 

 sturgeon, the flesh of which is sent pickled 

 into all parts of Europe. The second, is the 

 fish from the roe of which that noted delicacy 

 called caviar is made ; and the third, besides 

 supplying the caviar, furnishes also the valu- 

 able commodity of isinglass. They all grow 

 to a very great size ; and some of them have 

 been found above eighteen feet long. 



There is not a country in Europe but what 

 this fish visits at different seasons ; it annually 

 ascends the largest rivers to spawn, and pro- 

 pagates in an amazing number. The inhabi- 



