sturionide^e. 279 



under the snout, is supported upon pedicles, which give it more protractility than 

 the mouth of the sharks ; the upper jaw, formed by the union of the palate-bones 

 and labials, contains merely vestiges of the intermaxillaries ; the eyes and nostrils 

 are lateral ; the snout is furnished beneath with barbels ; there is no vestige of an 

 auditory opening, the little hole behind the temples, which has been so considered, 

 being, in fact, only a spiracle leading to the gills ; the anal is under the dorsal, which 

 is posterior to the ventrals ; the caudal embraces the turned-up end of the spine, 

 and has a broad lobe underneath anterior to the principal point. In this genus, as 

 in the selacians, there is a conglomerated pancreas, and the lower part of the 

 intestine is furnished with a spiral valve which serves to delay the passage of its 

 contents. The sturgeons are anadromous fish, ascending rivers in shoals for the 

 purpose of spawning. The migrations of some are confined entirely to fresh waters, 

 others pass a part of the year in the sea. They are particularly abundant in the 

 seas and rivers of northern Asia, and are of great importance, in an economical 

 point of view, to the various nations under the Russian sway. Caviar is made 

 from the roe, isinglass from the air-bladder, the flesh is eaten fresh, salted, or pre- 

 served by aromatic substances, and even the ligamento-cartilaginous cord which 

 pervades the spine constitutes a Russian delicacy named vesiga. 



The sturgeons of North America, though almost equally numerous with those of 

 Asia, are of comparatively little benefit to the natives. A few speared in the 

 summer time suffice for the temporary support of some Indian hordes, but none 

 are preserved for winter use, and the roe and sounds are utterly wasted. The 

 ingenious methods practised in Asia of capturing the sturgeon by weirs and move- 

 able chambers are not resorted to in America, though west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains salmon are taken by analogous means, which we have already described. 

 The northern limit of the sturgeon in America is probably between the 55th and 

 56th parallels of latitude. I have met with no account of its existence to the north- 

 ward of Stuart's Lake, on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, and on the east 

 side it does not go higher than the Saskatchewan and its tributaries. It is not 

 found in Churchill River, nor in any of the branches of the Mackenzie or other 

 streams that fall into the Arctic Sea, a remarkable circumstance, when we con- 

 sider that some species swarm in the Asiatic rivers which flow into the Icy Sea. 

 Sturgeon occur in all the great lakes communicating with the St. Lawrence, and 

 also along the whole Atlantic coast of the United States down to Florida. Pecu- 

 liar species inhabit the Mississippi, and it is therefore probable that the range of 

 the genus extends to the Gulf of Mexico. 



The sturgeon-fishery of Pine Island Lake, whose waters fall into the Saskatche- 



