BOOK are e a g le s and falcons, cranes, herons, fwans, wild geeie ani
. 1V' , ducks, partridges,.quails, woodcocks and fnipes, black-game,
alfo crows and ravens, magpies and black-birds, fparrows
and iiarlings,,together with nightingales, linnets, larks and
yellow-hammers. The fiih which are caught in the Volga!
are falmon, fterlet, tench, pike, perch, groundlings, gudgeons,
and fometimes, but rarely, fturgeon and beluga.
The fterlet being a very uncommon fiih, and probably
peculiar to the northern parts of the globe, I- am induced to.
give a defcription of it, and to enumerate the principal rivers
of Ruffia in which it is found.
The fterlet, the acipenfer ruthenus of Linnaeus, is a fpe-
eies of fturgeon, and is highly efteemed for the flavour and
delicacy of its fleih, and for its row, from which, the fineft
caviare is made.. It is diftinguiihed from the other fturgeons
by its inferior fize being feldom more than: three t feet
in length, and by its colour. The top of the head and the
back are of ayellowiih grey t the fidesof the body whitiib,
and the belly white mixed with rofe-colour, efpecially towards
the mouth and vent.. The eyes are of a iky-blue,
encircled with white. The ftiout is long and pointed, com-
prefled and fluked. The mouth is tranfverfe with thick
prominent lips, which it has the power of drawing inwards,
with a beard, confifting of four fmall and foft cirrhi, or
wattles. It has five rows of pointed bony imbricated fcales,.
one upon ks back, two along, its fides, and two under its
belly. The row upon its back begins from the neck and
* T h is defcription is chiefly taken from
Lepekin’ s Reife, in his account of- the
fiihery o f Sinbirflc upon.the Volga, Vol. JI.,
R. I 54-
f Mr. Pallas fays, that the fterlets o f
the Irtiih are, next to thofe o f the Oby,
the largeft in Ruffia, being frequently
X
**• ueber anderthalb eilen long,!’ or an ell
and an half long. By an ell, I fnppofe»
is. meant an arfliime = 26 inches, and then,
the length o f thefe will be 3 feet 1 inch..
See Pallas’ Reife. Part I'l. p . 446« Lepe-
kin fays, that the fterlets o f the Volga are
feldom more than two feet in length.
peach.es.
teaches to the dorfal fin. Their number *, b y which Lin- ch a p .
nseus afcertains the fpecies, and fixes at 1 5, varies from ■ . •
14 to 17 . The two fide rows begin from the upper
angle of the gill-covers, and reach to the middle of the tail:
their form is flat in the middle, with dentated margins
turning towards the tail; their number varies from60 to 7 o.
The two rows, which lie under the belly, begin from the
peftoral and reach towards the ventral fins : they are foiir-
lided, much fmaller than thofe upon the back, and thicker
than thofe on the fides. Befide thefe five rows, there are
alfo fome adepofe bony-fcales between the tail and the vent •;
their number is invariably five.
The reft of the ikin is totally without fcales, but is extremely
rough to the touch. It has, like moft other fiih,
two pccStoral fins, two ventral, one anal, one dorfal, and its
fail is forked t.
Many authors have erred in fuppofing this fiih to be peculiar
to the Volga and the Caipian fea ; for they frequent
many other rivers, lakes, and feas, of the Ruffian empire.
Muller informs us, that they are caught in the Dnieper,
■and feveral rivers falling into the Frozen Ocean, particularly
the Lena f. Lange aflerts, that they are found in
the Yenifei; Pallas defcribes them as inhabiting the Irtiih,
Oby, and Y a ik ; Georgi mentions them among the fiih of
the lake Baikal, and fometimes in the Angara.— We learn
from Linnaeus, that, by order of Frederic I. king of Sweden,
* Acipenfer Ruthenus cirris 4. fquamis nceus-, in Le Bruyn’ s Travels, V o l. I. p . 89 ;
dorfalibiis 15. Muf. Fred. I. p. 54. and and in Lepekin’s Reife, Tab. 9.
Faun. Sue. 272.— In the Syft. Nat. p . 403, | S. R. G . IX. p. 4. Haygold’ s RuiThe
defines it, Acipenfer ordinibus 5. iqua- land, V o l . 'l l , p. 416, Pallas Reife, P. I.
inaruni oflearum, intermedio officulis, 1 <j. P . 284. p . II. p. 446, Georgi Reife, V o l. I .
f The reader will find an engraving o f p. 177.
the fterlet in the Mufeum Fred, I. o f Lin-;
I i i a fom e