THE ECONOMIC MOLLUSCA OF ACADIA. 73 



Indians, who, we know, used the Clam to the almost total 

 neglect of the Mussel?* And are not the Europeans of to-day 

 wiser than we in this respect, that they use a form, which, 

 equally good with the other, lives on the surface and can be 

 easily gathered, and besides is susceptible of easy artificial 

 cultivation anywhere, while we take that for which we must 

 laboriously dig. which requires more special conditions of 

 soil, and which, only with difficulty, can be artificially 

 propagated? A consideration, therefore, necessarily brief, 

 of the economics of this species in Europe, may suggest some 

 useful lessons to us, 



(a) Its Use as Bait in the Fisheries. 



We are told of its use in England (Fisheries Literature) 

 that, — " The Mussel is admitted on all hands to be the most 

 deadly bait for salt-water fish; " and again, — " The Mussel is 

 perhaps the best kind of hook bait known." What have our 

 fishermen, who use the Clam and the Squid, to say to this? 



In England and Scotland it is especially valued, and it is 

 estimated that no less than the enormous quantity of one 

 hundred thousand tons annually are required for this purpose 

 in Great Britain alone. The single port of Eyemouth required 

 for its fishing vessels during the season of 1881-82, eight 

 hundred and ninety tons of Mussels. Three Scottish villages 

 have been known to use, in one week, sixty-one tons. 



These figures will show what an enormous drain upon the 

 Mussel beds of Britain there must be for this purpose alone, 

 not taking into consideration those used for food. It has 

 been too great for the natural product, and the fishermen 

 have been forced to importation and to artificial cultivation. 

 In 1881, twelve thousand tons, mostly for bait, were 

 imported from Holland into England. 



They are gathered by those who make a business of it, by 

 hand, when above low-water mark, and by a sort of grapnel- 

 dredge when below it. They are taken to the fishing grounds 



* As shown by the Indian shell-heaps. Lescarbot (1609) corroborates this in the 

 following,— " But yet they [i. e., the Mic-macs] have a superstition, not to wish to 



eat Mussels. Yet they cannot give a reason for it Nevertheless in our 



company, seeing us eat them, they did likewise. " 



