584 CHONDROPTERYGII. 



plates. The mouth, situated beneath the head, is small and 

 toothless; it is placed on a sort of foot of three joints, by means 

 of which it can be protruded and retracted at pleasure. On its 

 under surface, as in most cartilaginous fishes, are several cirri, 

 beard or worm-like appendages, which hang down in front. It 

 is so much like India-rubber, that boys put pieces of it in their 

 balls, to make them bound. The body is long and tapering, 

 ending in a tail unequally forked, the upper lobe being consid- 

 erably the longer. Sturgeons live on small fishes and worms. 

 They grow to a great size, many of them measuring more than 

 twenty feet long, and some weighing more than two thousand 

 pounds. The roe is remarkable for its quantity of eggs, con- 

 taining sometimes one hundred and fifty millions, and weighing 

 one-fourth of the whole fish. It in fact constitutes its chief value, 

 as from it caviar, so much prized, is furnished. For preparing 

 it, the roes, taken out and placed in tubs, are cleansed with 

 water; the fibrous parts, by which the eggs are connected, being 

 removed, the spawn is rinsed in white wine or vinegar, and 

 spread to dry. It is then put into a vessel and salted, being 

 crushed down at the same time with the hands, and afterwards 

 inclosed in linen bags to drain off the moisture. Lastly, it is 

 packed in tubs, pierced in the bottom, that any remaining moist- 

 ure may yet drain off, and closed down for domestic use or ex- 

 portation. Sometimes it is said to be preserved, after having 

 been salted and seasoned, by being rolled up into large balls, 

 and immersed in vessels of oil ; or the rolls are inclosed in wax, 

 so that the air may be more effectually excluded. (Gosse.) The 

 flesh of the Sturgeon is another article of considerable com- 

 merce. It is smoked or broiled in slices, and pickled, and in 

 this form exported. So fat and unpalatable, (as some regard it.) 

 it was deemed by the ancient Romans one of the most sump- 

 tuous dishes; and at all "great dinner-parties, this fish was 

 always carried by servants decked with garlands and flowers, 

 and attended by a band of musicians. On the Hudson River, it 

 is called "Albany Beef," from its frequent exposure in the 

 markets of that city. The swimming bladder of the Sturgeon is 

 also profitable. If cut open and washed, and its silvery glutinous 

 skin be exposed for some hours to the heat of the sun, and sepa- 

 rated from the external skin, it furnishes the best isinglass, the 

 value and uses of which are well known. They migrate during 

 the early summer months, deposit their spawn, and return again 

 to the sea. Those of North America are almost fresh- water fish.. 

 The chief species are the COMMON STURGEON, Acipenser, (LaL 

 a sturgeon,) sturio, of the seas and rivers of Europe ; the BE- 



