432 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



at the occiput in a rounded plate, which in the immature fish is pointed. The 

 whole upper portion of the head is bony, and irregularly marked upon its surface. 



The snout is blunted. The eyes are small, and their diameter is less than one fifth 

 the distance between them. The nostrils are double, situated directly in front of 

 the eyes; the posterior is much the larger. The mouth, without teeth, capable of 

 great protrusion, with fleshy, lobed lips, is situated on the under surface of the 

 head; half-way between the mouth and the snout are situated four cirrhi placed 

 transversely with respect to each other, nearly as long as the mouth. 



The dorsal fin is situated far back, at the posterior extremity of the body; it 

 is deeply emarginated; its first rays are higher than its length. 



The pectorals arise from a strong, triangular plate; their first ray is very large 

 and strong; the seventh and eighth are the highest; the length of the fins at 

 their base are less than one half their height. 



The ventrals, which are placed far back, are subquadrangular. 



The anal fin is opposite the dorsal ; its length is equal to one half its height ; 

 its posterior rays are equal in height to one third the height of the longest rays. 



The upper lobe of the caudal fin is nearly double the length of the lower; the 

 membranous structure of this fin renders it difficult accurately to determine the 

 number of its rays. 



The fin rays are as follows: — D. 38. P. 28. V. 24. A. 23. C. 125. 



Length, six to ten feet. 



Remarks. The largest specimen I have seen, nearly six feet in length, was found 

 at Deer Island. It is sometimes taken measuring even ten feet. The specimen 

 above described was captured in tbe harbor of Provincetown, and measured four 

 feet and six inches in length. 



But little attention has as yet been paid in this country to the value of the 

 sturgeon fishery in an economical point of view. The several species we possess 

 might unquestionably be made useful. The following observations of Professor B. 

 Jaeger, contained in the nineteenth volume of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, for 

 1848, are worth, of peru..l. 



" The principal sturgeon fisheries are, without doubt, those on the Volga, near 

 Astracan, and those on the Don, which are carried on chiefly by the Cossacks of 

 that country, who find this occupation much more lucrative than agriculture, which 

 they neglect entirely, in spite of the very fertile soil of their lands. 



'^ The fish forms an important object of fishery and commerce to many nations, as 

 well for its flesh, as for the caviare prepared from its roe, and the isinglass from 



