246 
ELEUTHEROPOMI. 
one about 6 feet long was captured last year and sent to him when in 
London. It being a “ Royal fish,” he presented it to the Queen. 
I have also notes of the capture of sturgeons at Cushendall (Antrim), 
Dundrum (Down), Dundalk, Carrick-on-Suir, and Wexford. 
In the County of Cork sturgeons have been frequently taken in the 
Blackwater and in the Bandon rivers, but more rarely in the latter. Dr. 
R. Ball has critically examined several Irish specimens, and is of opinion 
that they are not only distinct from the two species which have been 
recognised as British, but are undescribed : he has named the species 
A. Thompsonii. 
I am unable to reconcile the sturgeon which I have called Thompsonii with 
the Sturio of Linnseus. I have collected a great many specimens, and the sub- 
ject requires to be worked out. I do not think the broadness or sharpness of the 
nose a specific distinction, as no two of my specimens can be said to agree in the 
form of the nose, or the arrangement of the scales on the nose and head. Pos- 
sibly more species than should be, have been made : I have now so many speci- 
mens that, it may be, a classification of their variations will reduce Sturio, Thomp- 
sonii, and latirostris to a single species. It would be desirable to get from the 
Continent a true A. Sturio for comparison. — R. Ball, 2 June, 1855. 
“ Sturgeons of from nine to ten feet in length are occasionally seen in 
the Dublin market.” — R. Ball. 
The Isinglass Sturgeon, Acipenser Huso, Linn. 
In 1847 I contributed the following note to the Annals Nat. Hist., 
vol. xx. : — 
“ Isinglass Sturgeon, Acipenser Huso, Linn. — A notice of the occurrence of this 
species on the coast of Cork, in July, 1845, was communicated to the Annals 
(vol. xvi. p. 213) by Mr. John Humphreys of the city of that name. This gen- 
tleman, as well as Dr. Harvey of Cork, who subsequently examined the speci- 
men, assures me that it was A. Huso as represented in Shaw’s Zoology, vol. v. 
pi. 159. Mr. Humphreys has informed me of the capture of another specimen, 
which was taken in the second week of April, 1847, at Carrigeen, near Curri- 
glass, on the river Bride, not far from its junction with the Blackwater. It 
measured 7 feet 8 inches in length, and weighed nearly 2 cwt.” 
Shaw’s description of this species is as follows : — 
“ Isinglass Sturgeon, Acipenser Huso, Linn. — A larger fish than the common 
sturgeon, having been often found of the length of 25 feet ; general shape the 
same ; colour dusky, or blackish-blue above, silvery on the sides and abdomen, 
with a tinge of rose-colour on the latter ; general appearance smoother than in 
the common sturgeon, the dorsal tubercles being less protuberant, and those 
along the sides much smaller, and in some specimens of a very advanced growth 
altogether wanting; mouth much larger than in the A. Sturio, with thick 
crescent-shaped lips ; skin smooth and viscid. Native of the Northern, Caspian, 
and Mediterranean Seas, migrating from them into the adjoining rivers : found 
more particularly in the Volga and the Danube.” — Shaw's General Zoology, vol. 
v. p. 375, pi. 159. 
ORDER VII.— ACANTHORRHINI. 
No specimen belonging to this Order has yet been recorded as Irish.— Ed. 
