As an article of food the flesh of this fish is not to be despised. In England, being a royal dish, it is held in high estimation, and every sturgeon captured in the British Isles is the property of Her Majesty.

Experiments were first made in this country in 1874 by the New York Commission to hatch out the eggs of this fish, but, owing to the difficulties experienced in obtaining ripe males and females at the same time, the attempt proved unsuccessful. The year following these difficulties were overcome, and a complete success achieved.

The fishermen were constantly netting sturgeon at New Hamburg, on the Hudson, at the mouth of Wap-pinger's creek, at which place there appeared to be a natural spawning ground, and on June 7th, at 10, a. m., a ripe male and female were caught. As the fish could not be handled in the ordinary way, the female had to be cut open, after it had been previously ascertained by experiment that the eggs seemed to be perfectly ripe.

The eggs were quickly placed in the pans, and the milt bag cut bodily from the male fish, and the milt pressed out over the eggs.

The eggs were found to come from the fish in an agglutinated sticky mass, somewhat similar to the eggs of the perch or the frog. In order to hatch in the shad boxes, it was necessary that the eggs should be free and not stick together. This is avoided in the case of sticking eggs, by stirring them until the gummy envelope dissolves, or is washed away. It was found almost impossible to do this in the case of sturgeon eggs, but by constant stirring, the eggs appeared at last (thirty minutes to two hours) to be in a state which would justify a trial in the shad boxes. The eggs are larger than those of the white fish and measure about seven to the inch. They are of a dark brownish color, with the yolk showing black through the opaque brown. On June ninth, a brown line showed itself around the eggs, being the first visible formation of the fish. At 3 p. m. on that day, about fifty-three hours after impregnation, the first movement was observed in the fish. Almost all fish embryos move the tail, the head being quiet, these sturgeon seemed to move only the middle part of their bodies, the head and tip of the tail being quiet. On June tenth, at 6 p. m., the young sturgeon commenced to hatch, the next morning by 5 a. m. they were all found hatched out. When turned loose into the river the young fish sought the bottom immediately, hiding in the mud and among the stones. A few of the young were kept until they were an inch long, and could be seen to pick up food from the sides of the box, but it is improbable that they could be kept in confinement by artificial feeding. The food sac was very small and apparently lasted about six days. The time of hatching was about one hundred hours, with the water ranging from sixty-seven to seventy-four degrees.

The importance of the sturgeon as an article of food has never been fully appreciated. They contain, when ripe, enormous quantities of eggs; from fifty to sixty pounds being taken from a full grown fish. From its roe, caviare, the national dish of Russia, is prepared, and a company is now profitably engaged on the Hudson and the upper lakes in its manufacture, and the mature fish attains the enormous size of three hundred pounds. The flesh is yellow and rich, and so nearly does it resemble meat that it has been nicknamed "Albany beef." It is probably possessed of greater muscle giving and hunger appeasing qualities than that of any other fish, the salmon not excepted. It is delicious food when properly prepared. but having in former times been exceedingly cheap, it came to be despised as the food of the poor. Unless something is done for its cultivation it will soon become a delicacy only of the rich.