Fishes. 1649 



Singular Disease in Sticklebacks. — A pond in the outskirts of Liverpool abounds 

 with sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus leiurus), numbers of which are diseased in a remark- 

 able manner, having large globular excrescences, filled with a pure white fluid, pro- 

 truding from various parts of their bodies ; sometimes to such an extent that jointly 

 they equal in bulk the fish itself, and are singly as large as a pepper-corn. That they 

 are not foreign matters adhering to the skin is obvious without dissection, those on the 

 back and sides showing the markings and colours of the fish, only lighter (from dis- 

 tension, and the transparency showing the fluid through) ; those on the belly are sil- 

 very white. The diseased fish are all small and ill-conditioned. I kept some alive in 

 a glass vessel for some time ; they were very lively, and would eat small pieces of the 

 bodies of flies, &c, taking them fearlessly from my finger. The disease is not peculiar 

 to this year. I have a specimen in spirits, which I obtained in the same pond three 

 or four years ago. In a ditch about two hundred yards from the pond the sticklebacks 

 are quite healthy. — George Wolley ; 9, Cambridge Street, Liverpool, Nov. 13th, 1846. 



Capture of large Sturgeons in the Usk, near Bridgewater. — As an accompaniment 

 to the notices in the ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 1419 and 1555), on the capture of " a huge 

 sturgeon in the Wye," and " a large sturgeon in the Usk," I solicit a place in this 

 highly interesting Journal for an account of the capture of sturgeons in the river Par- 

 ret, near Bridgewater. In the middle of May, 1829, one was taken about five miles 

 below Bridgewater, and brought alive to the town, which weighed 273 lbs. I pro- 

 cured the roe, which weighed 40 lbs., and I reckoned the number of ova by counting 

 those of some half-ounces and ounces, and found them to amount to 1,920,000. Lew- 

 enhoeck is reported, in popular books, to have discovered in a fish of this species 

 150,000,000,000 ova: this number is so enormous that I suspect it is improperly 

 printed. In the middle of May, 1839, another large sturgeon was taken in the Parret, 

 a mile below the town, which weighed 250 lbs. : the length of this fish was nearly nine 

 feet. Other large sturgeons, not so large as the two mentioned, have since occurred in 

 our river, and small ones two or three feet long are not uncommon here. The crea- 

 tures which serve this fish for food must be small ; the structure of the mouth and ali- 

 mentary canal will not allow it to feed on large substances : I have found in the 

 stomach only elvers and different species of shrimps, and I have examined very large 

 specimens. Large sturgeons have been taken in the Parret, within the last forty years 

 at least, only in the month of May, thus agreeing, in the time of their visit to our 

 river, with the periods of captures in the Wye and the Usk, as recorded (Zool. 1555) 

 by Mr. Bladon. This is what would be expected, on considering the vicinity of the 

 mouths of the Severn and Parret, at the head of the Bristol Channel. — Wm. Baker ; 

 Bridgewater, February Sth, 1847. 



Habits of the Trout in Lake Huron. — " A Mr. Biddle related to me a curious fact 

 respecting the large trout of the lake. Upon one occasion he caught one weighing 

 72 fbs., which, when it was drawn up, had a large white fish ( Corregonus albus) in 

 its throat, with its tail sticking out of the trout's mouth, whilst inside of the salmon 

 were two more white fish, each weighing about 10 lbs. : both of these fishes were lying 

 with their heads downwards, and in this manner he had invariably found them when 

 inside of a salmon-trout. The voracity of this animal must be great, if, not satisfied 

 with three large fishes, he must dash also at the bait of the angler. Propensities of 

 this kind sometimes lead others, who are not fishes, a little too far. An Indian, who 

 was a very experienced fisherman, explained to my informant the probable reason why 

 the white fish are found with their heads downwards. He said he had frequently seen 



