134 THE COMMON STURGEON'. 



are taken during the fummer months in great abundance, 

 and fold over all Europe at a very high price. The 

 fhores in that vicinity are all divided into certain di- 

 ftrids, and let as we do the falmon fifheries ; fome of 

 them bring a rent of fix thoufand guilders, or near three 

 hundred pounds per annum *. 



In thefe large rivers they are fometimes fouad of two 

 hundred pounds weight, and are taken in nets made of 

 fmall cords. They are dull and fpiritlefs animals, making 

 butfmall refinance when entangled ; andasfoon as they are 

 brought out of the water, appear like a lifelefs lump. 

 Their flelli is every where in high eftimation ; it has the 

 delicacy, whitenefs, and folidity of veal, and when roall- 

 cd, is reckoned one of the greateil niceties that can pro- 

 voke the appetite of an epicure f . It is commonly pic- 

 kled, and packed up in calks, when fent to foreign mar- 

 kets : Of late, we have received a confiderable quantity 

 of thefe fifii from North America., where they are caught 

 in May, June, and July ; it is at that feafon that they are 

 feen leaping above the furface in the rivers, and falling 

 again upon their fides, with a noife that is heard at the 

 diftance of fome miles %. 



It is of the ova of the flurgeon that the Ruffians make 

 the caviar, by taking out the membranes found among 

 them, and drying them, after having been wafhed with vi- 

 negar. The beft caviar is faid to be aftbrded by a fmall 

 fpecies called the flerlet, found in the Yaik and Volga \. 



Icthyocolla or ifniglafs is made of the found of this as 

 tvell as the other kinds of fturgeon [|. The ancients were 



acq^uainted 



• Brit. Zool. t Will. p. 24®, 



^ Catefby Nat. Hi/V. of Carolina, 

 § Strahlenberg's Hift. of Ruffia, p. 337. 

 i! Vide Phil. Traiif. Ivii. 354. 



