STURGEON. ^ 107 



i©n perceiving that it rubbed againft a fifh*. The Americans may make 

 ronfiderable improvements in the methods of taking Sturgeon, by 

 confulting .thofe ufed by the 'Tartars on the Wolga, who draw great 

 advantage from their fifheries, and the preparation of the caviar from 

 ■the roe. Much oil mayalfo be extrafted from the fat entrails^ which 

 is flung away after clearing the caviar from them f. 



Aclpenfer hufo, Z,/«. 404. — Blojh, iv. 86. tab. cxxix. 71 1 WU3S« 



T Saw, among the fubjefts of Natural Hiftory tranfmitted to Mrs. 



■Ann Blackburne, from New Tork, fome young Sturgeons of a fmall 

 fize : their nofes were blunt, and fliorter than thofe of the common 

 Sturgeons : the number of tubercles on each fide were, in different 

 Ipecimens, which I counted, from five to eleven. In old fifh thefe 

 difappear, and the fides become quite fmooth. This is the fpecies 

 which the Germans call Haujen, and the Ruffians, Bjeliuga, on account 

 of the whitenefs of its color. They grow to a vaft fize : are found in ■ 

 the Danube, the Po, the Mediterranean fea, the Euxine, the Wolga^ 

 and the Caspian fea ; in the two lafl: in vaft abundance : and great 

 profit is made from the ifing-glafs, i£lhyocolle, or fifh-glue, which is 

 iprepared from the bladders of this fpecies, as well as that of the two 

 other Sturgeons : and alfo from the Jilurus glanis, Lin. which may 

 poffibly be found in tlie great American lakes. 



I have reafon to think that the Americans poflefs in their iakes all 

 the three Ipecies. A fmall one, weighing from fix to forty pounds, is 

 frequent in the inland lakes of Hudfon's Bay. This is likely to be the 

 acipcnjer ruthanus, Lin. 403 ; the fterlet of the Ruffians. Notwith- 

 ftanding America has withdrawn itfelf from us, it is charity to point 

 out the benefits they may enjoy, from the gifts of nature which they 

 jjofTefs. 



* Doflor Burnaby\ Travels, oflavo, p. ij. 



4- Decouvertes faites par des Ruffes, ^c, i. 351, 



0^2 Head 



