ACIPENSER STURIO. 413 



sixty pounds, and a fish eleven feet four inches long, cast for Dockland, 

 weighed five hundred and forty-one pounds. 



The food of this species consists of many kinds of invertebrata, especially 

 worms, small Crustacea, small mollusca, and mud containing organic matter. 

 Sometimes the intestine is found completely filled with sand which has been 

 swallowed with food. 



The species spawns in the south of Europe in April or May, rarely in March ; 

 but in the north of Europe the spawning is commonly in May or June. Fishes 

 have been taken in British rivers with eggs developed in January and May, and 

 with some of them as large as small peas at the end of June, while others 

 were then as small as small-shot. Benecke describes the eggs as two milli- 

 metres in diameter, and numbering many millions. Mr. B. Parfitt states that 

 the ovaries weighed eighteen to twenty pounds in a fish seven feet long, cap- 

 tured at Exmouth. The young are hatched in five days. Sturgeon-breeding 

 is carried on by artificial impregnation of the eggs in Schleswig-Holstein. 

 When hatched, the young only require to be watched in the river for from 

 ten to fourteen days, and soon go down to the sea. 



Pennant remarks, and the statement is repeated by writers in many 

 countries, that the Sturgeon makes no resistance either when caught in a net 

 or hooked, but is drawn out of the water like a lifeless lump. It, however, 

 lives out of water for some time, and a specimen is referred to by Thompson as 

 having lived out of water thirty-six hours before it was killed. 



In England the Sturgeon is a royal fish, belonging, by Act of Parliament, 

 of the reign of Edward II., to the sovereign, except where it has been granted 

 by charter to certain corporations, as at Boston in Lincolnshire. When it came 

 into the Thames and passed above London Bridge it was claimed by the Lord 

 Mayor, but the last Sturgeon which appears to have possessed the endurance 

 necessary to undergo this perilous adventure is said to have been captured in 

 1832. It was customary for the Lord Mayor in former times to present the 

 Sturgeon to the sovereign. The regard in which it is held as food varies in 

 different countries. The flesh is commonly white with yellow fat, and often a 

 faint pink tinge. Towards the end of the tail it becomes red. It is firm, and 

 varies in flavour in different parts of the body. A good cook is said to be able 

 to serve it as beef, mutton, pork, or poultry. The last two are obtained 

 from the fore part of the body. The middle of the tail yields a flesh which 

 has the character of veal, and sometimes adds to this the flavour of lobster. 

 The smaller part of the tail closely resembles mutton. Although an excellent 

 fish it never commands a high price in the London market, usually selling 

 retail at from fourpence to eightpence a pound, according to the locality in 

 which it is sold. 



