146 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



of Scotland, shows the value of the mussels landed 

 during that period to have been £1,959, of which the 

 greater portion was landed at the port of Greenock.* 

 From this statement it appears that the industry 

 is not so insignificant as most people are ready to 

 think. 



Some years ago (if not also at the present time) 

 the mussel was fished between Port - Glasgow and 

 Langbank, and sent to the East Coast for bait. In 

 this industry there seemed no want of demand, but 

 a want of facilities for proper culture to keep up 

 the supply. If a few acres of the foreshore were 

 staked off with rows of wood piles for the spawn 

 to adhere to, the enormous productiveness of the 

 mussel would, with care and judicious arrange- 

 ment, enable the supply to be rendered practically 

 unlimited. In view of conditions so favourable for 

 successful and economic working, there appears 

 good reason for believing that, with no great 

 expenditure of capital, mussel culture at this place 

 might be made a profitable industry. 



The Food of Fishes. 



[Read '22nd February. 1886.] 



In regard to the food of fishes, with them, as with 

 other carnivora, there is a general dependence of 

 one upon another. The fry must be supplied with 

 food suitable for their tender organizations ; in like 

 manner the young fishes, in their successive stages 

 of growth, must prey on such smaller forms as they 

 can overpower ; and so on. It does not follow, how- 

 ever, that the adults must at length abstain from 

 feeding on the smaller organisms, as it often happens 

 that some species, especially the herring, are found 

 to be gorged with microzoa. 



A close examination of the sea-water reveals the 

 enormous quantity of microscopic lite floating in its 

 midst, not in any particular zone but from top to 



* Glasgow Herald, November 17th, 1886. 



