144 ICHTHYOLOGIA OHIENSIS 



FOURTH PART.— ATELOSIAN FISHES. 



Having incomplete gills, without a gill cover, or 

 a branchial membrane, or without both. 



[70] XXXI. Genus. Sturgeon. Accipenser. 

 Eturgeon. 



A gill cover without branchial membrane. Body- 

 elongated with three or five rows of large bony 

 scales. Abdominal. Vent posterior. One dorsal 

 and one anal fin. Tail obliqual and unequal. Mouth 

 beneath the snout, toothless, retractible; snout 

 bearded by four appendages before the mouth. 



A very interesting and extensive genus, inhabiting 

 all the large rivers of the northern hemisphere ; many 

 species are anadromic and live in the sea in the 

 winter. There are six species in the Ohio and its 

 branches, which appear very early in the spring, and 

 must therefore winter in the deep waters of the Mis- 

 sissippi. They are all good to eat and are used as 

 food. They are taken with the seines and harpoons. 

 They spawn in the Ohio, &c. Linneus, Lacepede, 

 Shaw, and Schneider knew very few species of this 

 genus. I have proved, in a Monography, that it 

 must contain about 40 species, of which I have ascer- 

 tained 20. Seven of them belong to the Old Conti- 

 nent; 1. A. sturio, Linneus. 2. A. huso, L. 3. A. 

 ruthenus, L. 4. A. Stellatus, L. 5. A. lichtensteini, 

 Schn. 6. A. lutescens, Raf. 7. A. attilus, Raf . ; 

 while thirteen are peculiar to North America; 8. A. 

 atlanticus, Raf. (A. sturio, Mitchill.^) 9. A. oxyrin- 



