33^ THE HUSO OF GERMANY. 



'^he Hufo of Germany* 



This fpecies is fuppofed to be peculiar to the rivers o^ 

 Oermany ; particularly the Danube and thofe ftreams 

 that flow into it. From the Black Sea it afcends that ri- 

 ver, and is caught in nets placed in different places to in° 

 tercept it, nearly as far up as Vienna, where they are ex- 

 pofed to fale every Friday, to the number cf fixty or art 

 hundred. The llefti is foft, glutinous, and flabby ; but 

 it bears faking, and is exported from Wallachia, where 

 it is principally taken, to the different markets of Eu- 

 rope *. 



This fifli, like the refl: of the genus, is gregarious and 

 migratory j and it is upon its excurfions from the fea to 

 the frelh water, that it is taken, during the months of 

 Oftober and November. The hufos are from fifty to 

 four hundred pounds weight, and are faid to poffefs fuch 

 ftrength, that they frequently drive the fiflierman over- 

 board with a fliroke of the tail f . 



It is chiefly for the ifinglafs which it affords, tha;t this 

 fifli is taken : The manner of preparing this fubflance, is 

 by cutting the flcin, the entrails and the fins, into fmall 

 pieces, and leaving them to macerate in a proper quanti- 

 ty of warm water; they are afterwards all boiled toge- 

 ther upon a flow fire, until they are diffolved and reduced 

 to a jelly $ this jelly is fpread upon inftruments made iot 

 the puiTpofe, and upon drying it affumes the form of 



parchment -f 



* Gefacr de Aquatil. p. 59. f Tdenvibidetav 



