518 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
the mouth and the muzzle are four slender and very elastic barbs, or 
wattles, like so many little worms. It is pretended that these wattles 
attract small fishes to the jaws of the animal, while it conceals itself 
among the roots of aquatic plants. 
In the sea the sturgeon feeds on herrings, mackerel, cod-fish, and 
other fishes of moderate size. In the rivers it attacks the salmon 
which ascend them about the same time. Mingling with them, how- 
ever, it seems a giant. It deposits its eggs in great quantity, which 
are gathered and made into caviare. Its flesh is delicate, and in 
countries where they are caught in quantities it is dried and preserved. 
The rivers which enter the Black and Caspian seas contain, besides the 
common sturgeon, many other species of the same genus, the flesh ol 
which is even more delicate and recherche than the common sturgeon. 
Among the ancients this fish was held in unusual esteem. In 
Borne, in the time of the emperors, we read of sturgeons home in 
triumph to the sound of instruments, and laid upon tables fastidiously 
covered aud decorated with flowers. 
The Great Sturgeon, which sometimes exceeds a thousand pounds, 
is only found in the rivers which flow into the Caspian and Black seas. 
The Volga, the Bon, and the Danube produce the largest species. 
We are indebted to the Russian naturalist Pallas for the informa- 
tion we possess respecting the mode of taking the sturgeon in the 
Volga and other Asiatic rivers. Stakes are placed across the river, 
leaving just sufficient space between each pile to permit the animal 
to pass. Towards the centre this dike forms an angle opposed to 
the current, and, consequently, opposed to the fish which ascend the 
river towards the summit of this angle. At this point there is an 
opening which leads into a kind of enclosure, consisting of fillets 
towards the end of winter, and of osier-hurdles during summer. The 
fishermen establish themselves upon a sort of scaffold placed over the 
opening. When the fish is engaged in the reservoir, the men upon 
the scaffold drop a gate, which prevents his return to the sea. The 
movable bottom of the chamber is now raised, and the fishes easily 
taken, as represented in Pl. XXVI. 
The fishermen are informed during the day of the approach of the 
sturgeons to the great enclosure by the movement they communicate 
to cords suspended to small floating substances in the water. During 
the night the sturgeons enter the enclosure, agitating by their move- 
