78 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



The buthenus Huso. 



by fifteen scaly protuberances, a native of Russia, 

 and called buthenus, in the technical language 

 of Linnaeus, but is probably the caviare sturgeon 

 of other writers. 



The huso is a fish very much resembling the 

 sturgeon, and classed by Linnaeus under the 

 same genus, (accipencer :) it is a native of Russia 

 and the Danube; the body is naked, that is, 

 it has no protuberances; grows frequently to 

 twenty-four feet in length, and the skin is so 

 tough and strong, that it is employed for ropes, 

 in carts and other wheel carriages. Its flesh is 

 soft, glutinous and flabby ; but when salted ac- 

 quires a better taste, and turns red like salmon: 

 it is caught from October to January, and weighs 

 from seventy pounds to almost four hundred; 

 but is chieily taken for the purpose of furnishing 

 that useful commodity isinglass, so famous as an 

 aglutinant in medicine, as well as for the fining 

 of wines ; for both which uses, it appears that 

 this fish was known to the ancients. The Rev. 

 Mr. liingley and others deny, that any part of 

 the sturgeon will produce this commodity except 

 the inner coat of its air-bladder. They say, the 

 isinglas most common in our shops is made from 

 a species of dolphin called the beluga, an ac- 

 count of which, the reader will find in our de- 

 scription of the dolphin. 



The art of making isinglass was long a secret 

 in the hands of the Russians; but has lately been 



