CHESIL BEACH FISH. 1(55 



event in all respects precisely similar." It has also been suggested 

 by Buckland that the parasites which are found on the large fish 

 form the food of the pilot fish which accompany them. 



Pilot fish sometimes accompany ships during whole voyages, one 

 instance being related of two pilot fish joining a ship two days after 

 she left Alexandria and attending her until her arrival at Plymouth 

 80 days afterwards, where they were caught. I once myself saw a 

 small fish of some kind follow a baited hook put out from the 

 stern of a sailing ship in the Mediterranean for several days, 

 keeping its nose within a few inches of the hook all the time ; but 

 I did not see it attempt to eat the bait. It was calm weather, so 

 that the ship was only moving slowly. 



The next fish in point of size that I have seen from the Chesil 

 Beach was a sturgeon (Accipenser Sturio), about six feet long, 

 which was taken round in the usual way for inspection in a cart. 

 It seemed to be very tenacious of life, and lived for hours after it 

 was taken from the water. It was defended by five rows of long 

 plates with projecting spines, and had a very hard and angular 

 appearance. The four filaments hanging down in front of its 

 mouth were very striking. The mouth itself was nearly round 

 and small, something like a short indiarubber pipe, surrounded by 

 thick swollen lips, and placed underneath and some way behind 

 the end of its snout, and was toothless. This fish was cut up and 

 sold in the neighbourhood, but I did not taste it. Yarrell says that 

 it is very rarely met with in the open sea, being generally taken at 

 the mouths of rivers, which it ascends to deposit its spawn. Small 

 specimens are also rare, and it is supposed that they go out to sea 

 when quite young, and do not return to the rivers until they are 

 ready to lay their eggs. 



In "Nature," Jan. 1871, p. 171, A. Schultz mentions that a 

 peculiar phenomenon observed, especially in the Sturgeon, is a 

 kind of winter sleep. At the approach of cold weather it seeks 

 the deep parts of the river and remains there in a state of torpor, 

 during which time it secretes a viscid mucus, which forms a coating 

 over the entire body, called by the fishermen a "pelisse." During 



