THE BROAD-NOSED STURGEON. 405 



a bait of any description, although small fish and vermes 

 seem to be their principal food. They are found during 

 the winter to inhabit the ocean, and to ascend rivers in 

 the spring and summer months for the purpose of depo- 

 siting their spawn ; the fry, as soon as they are extruded 

 from the eggs, are said to seek the sea, and it appears on 

 that account that very young ones are seldom or never 

 found. In the Firth of Forth the Sharp-nosed Sturgeon 

 is taken, on an average, once in every three years, and then 

 generally in the salmon-nets at Musselburgh or Queensferry. 

 It is sometimes found on the coast of Cornwall, but more 

 commonly on our northern shores. A muddy bottom 

 seems to suit their habits the best, which they are said to 

 explore with their snout like swine in search of food. The 

 flesh of the Sturgeon is much esteemed ; it seems, however, 

 to have been more highly prized in former times than at 

 present. The roe of this fish is salted, and exported under 

 the name of caviare. The best isinglass is made from the 

 sound or swimming bladder, and sold at a high price. 



Acipenseb LATiuosTiiis. Parti. — Broad-nosed 

 Sturgeon. 



Specific Characters. — Osseous tuberoles in five longitudinal rows ; 

 snout blunt. 



Description. — From a specimen seven feet nine inches in length ; 

 weight eight stones. Colour of the back and sides, olive, with a shade 

 of grey ; belly dirty white. Body armed with five rows of osseous 

 shields, the first row commencing behind the head, and runs down 

 the central ridge of the back ; the two next rows arise one on each 

 side of the former, but nearer to the central ridge than to the pec- 

 toral fins ; immediately on the lower margins of the pectorals the 

 other two rows commence ; skin rough, with a number of small an- 

 gular osseous plates intermixed with very minute spicula ; the first 

 free shield on the central ridge is nearly orbicular, and very slightly 

 carinated ; the remainder in that row are of an oval form, with their 

 margins entire ; the keels of the fifth and sixth shields one-eighth 

 of an inch high, all the rest are lower ; the lateral shields are 



