St.-Pétersbourg, Académie impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg, 1911. 8vo. Two title pages, iii, 337 pp.; eight plates (V, VII, and VIII double-sized), 18 text illustrations, one map. Original printed wrappers.

A seldom-seen work by the great Russian ichthyologist Leo Semenovich Berg (1876-1950). This is the complete first volume of a work that would consist of three volumes, but a second volume was never published, and the third volume, on bone fishes, took more than twenty years to be completed. This part deals with lampreys, sharks, rays, and - most of all - sturgeons. According to Dean, the publication year is 1912, but internal evidence substantiates 1911 as correct. Uncut. Stamp on front wrapper and second (Russian) title. Otherwise a very good, clean copy. Dean I, p. 103.