THE STURGEON. 313 



treats : and the emperor Augustus, having heard of 

 their superiority, self-invited became his guest. The 

 banquet equalled, if not surpassed representation ; and 

 the emperor inquired of the epicure on what his fish 

 were fed ? when the wretch informed him, that the de- 

 licac}^ of their flavour was wholly to be ascribed to the 

 bodies of his slaves, as. he made a point of having 

 those thrown into the river who ventured to disobey 

 his commands. We are told that the emperor was so 

 shocked at the receipt, that he instantly gave orders 

 the ponds should be filled up ; but we should still more 

 have admired the justice of the sentence, if he had 

 commanded the body of such a monster to assist in the 

 design. 



OF THE STURGEON AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The sturgeon, with a form as terrible, and a body 

 nearly as large as the shark's, is yet as harmless and in- 

 nocent in its nature as the fish we have just described. 

 The external appearance of this animal bears some re- 

 semblance to that of a fresh-water pike : the nose is 

 long ; the mouth is small ; and it has neither jaw-bones 

 nor teeth. 



Though the sturgeon is a fish neither calculated for 

 war or depredation, yet its external appearance is ra- 

 ther formidable to the sight : it is long, pentagonal, and 

 covered with five rows of large bony knobs, one row 

 on the back, and two on each side, with a number of 

 fins to promote its velocity and speed. Of this fish 

 there are three distinct kinds, the common sturgeon, 

 4the caviar sturgeon, and the huso, or isinglass fish. 

 The first has eleven knobs - or scales on the back ; the 

 second has fifteen ; and the third has forty-three upon 

 the tail, and thirteen upon the back. The first of 



