76 FISH GALLERY. 



preserved on ice until it is required for consumption. From the 

 inglass. air-bladder of the Sturgeon isinglass is prepared (see specimens 

 1185 in Cabinet-case 28). The air-bladders are slit open and 

 cleaned and sent to market in the rough form, or the isinglass is 

 extracted by hot water and dried in the form of thin sheets, which 

 are sold as sheets, of various qualities, or are cut up into threads 

 or rolled and bent into " staple." Specimens of all these kinds 

 are shown. 



The great Russian Sturgeon, Acipenser huso, that furnishes so 

 much of the caviare and isinglass of commerce, is not at the time 

 of writing this guide-book on exhibition in the museum. It grows 

 to a weight of 3,000 lbs., and is found in the Black Sea, Caspian 

 Sea, Sea of Azov and their rivers. The Sturgeon that is found off 

 the British coast is Acipenser sturio, a species that is also caught 

 in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the seas of Western and 

 Northern Europe, and on the Atlantic coast of North America. 

 It grows to 10 or 11 feet. The specimen 1136 hanging from the 

 rail opposite Wall-case 6 was caught on the Dogger Bank in 

 1873, and measures 10 feet 4 inches; that marked 1102, standing 

 within the centre rail, measures a little over 8 feet. 



Acipenser stwio is commonly called the Royal Sturgeon, speci- 

 mens caught in British waters being the property of the sovereign, 

 although the royal prerogative is not exercised. In parts of 

 the Continent where it is common this Sturgeon (Acipenser 

 stwio) is utilised as a source of caviare and isinglass, as also are 

 the Short-snouted Sturgeon, Acipenser gilldenstadtii, 201, of the 

 Danube and rivers and seas of Russia and Western Asia, and 

 the Acipenser stellatus of Russia, 20-1, so called from the star- 

 shaped ossifications in the skin. Acipenser naccarrii, 205, is a 

 Sturgeon confined to the Adriatic ; it is known to the Italian 

 fishermen as the li Storione cobice." Acipenser maculosus, 206, is 

 the common Sturgeon of America ; it is found on the coasts and 

 in the rivers of Arctic and Eastern North America; Acipenser 

 rubicundus, 202, is common in the great lakes of North America, 

 and is called the Lake Sturgeon. The Sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus, 

 203, is a small Sturgeon, rarely exceeding three, feet in length, 

 found in the seas and rivers of Russia and also in the Danube ; 

 the flesh of the Sterlet is considered exceptionally choice. 



