THE PILCHARDTHE STURGEON 



pilchards was at one time allowed to run away and breed 

 fever, but it is now collected with great care and sold as 

 manure. 



THE STURGEON 



I do not include the sturgeon in this chapter because 

 zoologically it is a close relative of the pilchard, but 

 because it too has to pass through a factory and export 

 phase. So far from being connected with the pilchard, 

 it has little but gills, fins, and tail in common with 

 it, for it is a cartilaginous fish, like the shark, having 

 gristle in place of true bone ; it is devoid of teeth 

 and has a long tapering snout, whence its name is 

 derived (Latin, stirla^ an icicle). Like the salmon, it 

 divides its time between the sea and the river, though 

 there is an entirely fresh-water variety which is found 

 in the shallows of Lakes Michigan and Erie. Generally 

 speaking, it passes the greater part of the year in the 

 sea, entering the rivers in spring for spawning, and 

 occasionally in the autumn for some purpose at present 

 unknown. Its length is from six to eleven feet, and it 

 is believed to live for two and three hundred years. 



South Russia and parts of North America are the 

 special localities for this fishery, though the sturgeon 

 appears in all the temperate quarters of the world. Most 

 readers are probably aware that in England it is a 

 " royal fish," and when found in the Thames within the 

 Lord Mayor's jurisdiction can be claimed by the Sov- 

 ereign. 



164 



