ACIPENSERID^E. 283 



suddenly, dodging the fish on to the hook. If one man is unable to bring it up, 

 another helps with harpoon and cords. After exhausting one " yetoff " they 

 proceed to the next, and so on along the river. (Land and Water, April 26th, 

 1879.) 



Breeding. — In the north of Europe it breeds in the winter or in the early 

 spring. Mr. Parfitt (Fauna of Devon, p. 40) observes that a fine specimen, 7 ft. 

 long, was captured off Exmouth, June 25th, 1873. It was a female, full of 

 eggs, the ova varying in size from small shot to the size of small peas, the whole 

 mass weighing 18 or 20 lb., and he surmises that the fish under consideration 

 could hardly have carried her eggs to the winter. On May 8th, 1851, one was 

 captured in the Mersey full of ova ; in January, 1884, another was taken in a 

 similar condition at Torbay. 



As food. — It is a firm, somewhat hard-fleshed, but well-flavoured fish, from the 

 flesh of which it has been asserted that a good cook can obtain beef, mutton, pork, 

 or poultry ; while its roe, preserved under the name of " caviare," is a most 

 delicious relish,* which is prepared near the mouths of the Volga, Danube, 

 Dnieper, and Don, that from the Caspian being the most esteemed. The eggs 

 are washed in vinegar or white wine, and then spread upon a board to dry ; 

 subsequently salt is well rubbed in by hand labour ; they are then put into a bag 

 and slightly pressed, in order to remove the liquor, and subsequently packed in 

 kegs for the market. There are two kinds of caviare made ; the one which is 

 eaten in a semi- liquid state, and called the " Fresh Caviare," is less salted than the 

 other, which is pressed, and therefore keeps long-er, and is that which is imported 

 to England. The price of the fresh varies from one rouble twenty kopecks to 

 three roubles per pound, according to the season, and in any case can only be 

 obtained during the winter. The other varies from eighty kopecks to two 

 roubles, according to quality. The amount of caviare produced from the Caspian 

 has reached, in some years, 15,000 cwt. 



Uses. — In the Russian factories of the Caspian and Volga the fresh sounds 

 are first split open, well washed, in order to separate the blood and impurities, 

 then (according to Royle) spread out and exposed to the air to dry, with the 

 inner, silvery-white membrane turned upwards. This, which is nearly pure 

 gelatine, is carefully stripped off, laid in damp cloths (or left in the outer cover- 

 ing), and forcibly kneaded with the hands. It is then taken out of the cloths, 

 dried in the form of leaf isinglass, or rolled up and drawn out in a serpentine 

 manner in the form of a heart, horse-shoe, or lyre (long and short staple) between 

 three pegs, on a board covered with them ; here they are fixed in their places by 

 wooden skewers. When they are somewhat dried there, they are hung on lines 

 in the shade, till their moisture is entirely dissipated. The oblong pieces are 

 sometimes folded in the form of book-isinglass. According to Pallas, at the 

 lower part of the Volga, a fine gelatine is boiled out of the fresh swimming- 

 bladder, and then poured into all kinds of forms. In Gurief, a fine boiled fish- 

 glue is prepared, which is perfectly transparent, having the colour of amber, and 

 which is cast into slabs and plates. The common cake-isinglass is formed of the 

 fragments of the other sorts ; these are put into a flat metallic pan, with a very 

 little water, and heated just enough to make the parts cohere, like a pan-cake 

 when it is dried. 



Diseases. — Lampreys are said to fix themselves on to sturgeon, and, having 

 consumed the slime continue eating into the flesh. Some of the parasites which 

 affect their gills have been described (Zool. Journ. iv, p. 259). Several specimens 

 of JJichelestinm sturionis were found on the gills of one captured at Exmouth, and 

 on those of another taken this year at Torbay. 



Habitat. — The Baltic and rarely in the Black Sea and rivers which flow into 

 them, the Mediterranean, Northern and Western Europe, and Eastern America, 

 from Cape Cod to Florida. 



In the Orkneys said by Wallace and others to be driven ashore on the 

 rocks. Low only saw the head of one which came ashore on one of the noi'th 



* The above opinion is not invariably coincided in. Thus Mr. Houghton, 1. c, describes 

 caviare as " disgusting iu appearance, offensive to the smell, and horrible to the taste." 



