SEA MUSSEL MYTILUS EDULIS. 



223 



is usually gathered during the winter, allowed to freeze, and is then distributed in 

 amounts which vary from 4 to 8 cords per acre. 



The shells are used by oyster planters for cultch on which to catch oyster spat. 

 Artists use them as receptacles for gold and silver paint. When polished they may be 

 used for ornamental purposes. In this form they have been mounted on marble for 

 paper weights. Buttons, pretty needle books, scent bottle holders, earrings, crosses, 

 pins, and pin cushions have also been made from them. Since the shell is composed of 

 a large proportion of albuminous matter, the suggestion is offered here that the cracked 

 shells would probably make a valuable food for poultry. Experiments to determine 

 their food value from this standpoint ought to be undertaken. 



Mussels also yield pearls which are sometimes of value, but usually they are small, 

 of irregular form, and of poor color, selling in England for from 50 cents to $1 an ounce. 

 When formed near the border of the shell they are blue-black in color, but when pro- 

 duced near the middle of the inner shell surface they may take on the beautiful character 

 of the nacreous tissue. 



The value of the mussel fishery in the United States for 1908 is reported by the 

 United States Bureau of Census on the contained meat basis. The statistics were 

 furnished by six States and are given in Table 4. 



Table 4.— Quantity and Value op Sea Mussels Marketed in the United States in 1908. 



The statistics given in Table 4 are for the year 1908, since which time there has 

 been considerable increase in the consumption of mussels. The present quantity used 

 probably exceeds several times the amount indicated in the above table, for a single 

 firm in New York during the year 1912 reports having handled 50,000 bushels, valued 

 at $17,500. 



In Europe the mussel fisheries are much better developed and of far greater im- 

 portance than in this country. The statistics of the European fisheries were difficult 

 to secure with any degree of completeness, and what is here presented is to be regarded 

 as only a partial record. It is sufficient, however, to show the great wealth which 

 lies in this fishery. 



1 Returns from Grantees of Mussel Fishery Orders. 



