12 MR. A. MURRAY ON THE STERLET. [Jail. 3, 



of being placed upon record. The gentleman who was intrusted 

 with the duty of procuring the ova, and who undertook a journey of 

 900 miles to the Wolga to get them, was Dr. Knoch, an experienced 

 Russian pisciculturalist and able ichthyologist. I published his ac- 

 count of his journey in the papers I have above alluded to. In ad- 

 dition to the practical details and narrative there contained, he made 

 the following observation regarding the micropyle of the ovum : — 



" The assertion made by Professors Owsjanikow and Wagner and 

 Mr. Kowalewsky, and contained in the Bulletin of the Academy of 

 Sciences of St. Petersburg for June 29th, 1869, viz. that 'the mi- 

 cropyle-apparatus consists of seven micropyle openings grouped round 

 a poie, of which one is situated in the centre, whilst the remaining 

 six surround it in the form of a circle,' is not correct and is contrary to 

 all previous experience. In direct opposition to the micropyle struc- 

 ture of these gentlemen, and in most perfect harmony with my ob- 

 servations on the eggs of other fish, was the proof which I had later 

 an opportunity of giving, that in the eggs of the Sterlet, as well as 

 in those of all other red fish (Acipenserini), the micropyle consists 

 of a (towards the outside) funnel-shaped, ividened and simple canal, 

 and not by any means, as those savants assert, composed of several 

 (seven) openings." 



It is satisfactory to have this distinctly settled ; for it certainly 

 seemed a most unnecessary superfluity, whether of obstacles or open- 

 ings, to have seven instead of one. 



The other point is still more remarkable and unexpected. Dr. 

 Knoch says, " Allow me to draw your attention to one very inter- 

 esting circumstance which surprised us during the development of 

 the Sterlet. Accustomed to" the toothless jaw of the Sterlet and 

 Sturgeon in a more advanced stage, we were not prepared to find 

 teeth in the early stage of these fishes. We found, however, imme- 

 diately behind the lips of the Sterlet just escaped from the egg, 

 eighteen pretty strong and curved teeth ; and when in their lively 

 movements in the water they sometimes fall upon each other with 

 their teeth, it is no easy matter to separate them." 



Not being aware of this remarkable fact when I had the young 

 Sterlets in my hands, I did not think of examining them in relation 

 to it ; nor did I observe any thing like them seizing each other ; but 

 my period of observation was necessarily very limited, my great 

 anxiety being to shorten the period they were in my hands as much 

 as possible, and get them safe into the keeping of nature in a flowing 

 stream. I had, however, preserved two or three young specimens 

 in spirits, and I have endeavoured to verify Dr. Knoch's observation 

 upon these, but without success. My failure to do so, however, says 

 nothing against the accuracy of his observation ; for we all know how 

 the tissues alter when preserved iu spirits, and how much more diffi- 

 cult it is to make any delicate anatomical investigations upon speci- 

 mens which have been so preserved. 



Dr. Knoch adds that the barbies which characterize the Aci- 

 penser tribe are, in the young Sterlets, not fringed on the inside. I 

 should say that, although this seems to be the rule, in one under 



