[ I S I ] 
I defcribed in the Philof. Tranfadions, Vol. LVII. 
in my Specimen Hiftoria Naturalis Volgenfis , N° io. 
under the name cf Acipenfer Rut hen us major, rojiro 
elongato acuminato , paululum fupino , and which the 
Ruffians call Sevruga. Kramer, in his Elenchus Be- 
get abi hum & Animalium Aufirice, p. 383. is the only 
writer that l know who takes notice of this fpecies ; 
he calls it Acipenfer rofiro acuto , cor pore tuberculis 
fpincfs afpero : the inhabitants of Auftria call it Shirk , 
a name they have no doubt borrowed from the Sla- 
vonian name Sevruga. The famous painter and tra- 
veller Cornelys de Bruyn mentions this kind of fifh, 
but in lo luperficial a manner, that one plainly fees 
he was little, if at all, ufed to difcufilons in points 
of Natural Hiltory. He fays, *' “ the Sterlet is the 
“ beft fifh in Rufiia 5 there are two fpecies of it; 
“ but, upon the whole, it is nearly related to the 
tc Sturgeon. The Sever ukas differ in nothing from 
“ the Sturgeon, which the Ruffians call Ajjetrina . 
<c The Caviar is made from the Beluga , the Af- 
t£ Jetrina, and the Severuka .” Had de Bruyn exa- 
mined the Sevruga, he would certainly have found 
it materially different frpm the Ojetr or Affetrina , 
i. e. the common blunt- nofed Sturgeon of Germany 
and the Baltick. I fuppofe the Englifh Sturgeon, 
from your own defcription f, and the drawing in 
the Britiffi Zoology, illuftrated by plates, tab. lxxxix. 
to be the fame with this kind from Hud foil's Bay, 
and with the Sevruga of the Ruffians, and the Shirk 
of the Auffrians. The true Sturgeon, which gave 
* De Bruyn’s Voyage, Tom. I. &c. Amftercb. fob p. 93. 
f Br.. Zoob odavo, Vol,. HI. p. 99. 
