STURGEON. 
233 
was brought to table with great ceremony, and or- 
namented with flowers ; the slaves who carried it 
being also adorned with garlands, and preceded by 
music. The learned Mr. Pennant, however, has 
doubted whether the acipenser of the antients was 
the same as our sturgeon. Had they been of one 
species, it is hardly to be supposed that Ovid would 
have spoken of it as a foreign fish : 
Tuque peregrinis, acipenser , nolilis undis. 
And, thou, a fish in foreign seas renown’d. 
He likewise founds his objection on the descrip- 
tion of Pliny ; for that philosopher relates, that its 
scales are placed in a contrary direction to those 
of other fish, being turned towards the mouth; 
which disagrees with the character of all that are 
known at present. 
