IV ECONOMY OF THE MUSSEL 11/ 



In some of our low-lying coast districts mussels are a valuable 

 protection against inundation. "An action for trespass was 

 brought some time ago for the purpose of establishing the right 

 of the lord of the manor to prevent the inhabitants of Heacham 

 from taking mussels from the seashore. The locality is the 

 fore-shore of the sea, running from Lynn in a north-westerly 

 direction towards Hunstanton in Norfolk; and the nature of 

 the shore is such that it requires constant attention, and no little 

 expenditure of money, to maintain its integrity, and guard 

 against the serious danger of inundations of the sea. Beds of 

 mussels extend for miles along the shore, attaching themselves 

 to artificial jetties running into the sea, thereby rendering them 

 firm, and thus acting as barriers against the sea [and as traps to 

 catch the silt, and thus constantly raise the level of the shore]. 

 Therefore, wliile it is important for the inhabitants, who claim 

 a right by custom, to take mussels and other shell-fish from the 

 shore, it is equally important for the lord of the manor to do his 

 utmost to prevent these natural friends of his embankments and 

 jetties from being removed in large quantities." ^ 



The fable that Bideford Bridge is held together by the byssi 

 of Mytilus^ which prevent the fabric from being carried away 

 by the tide, has so often been repeated that it is perhaps worth 

 while to give the exact state of the case, as ascertained from 

 a Town Councillor. The mussels are supposed to be of some 

 advantage to the bridge, consequently there is a by-law for- 

 bidding their removal, but the corporation have not, and never 

 had, any boat or men employed in any way with regard to 

 them. 



Poisoning by mussels is much more frequent than by oysters. 

 At Wilhelmshaven,^ in Germany, in 1885, large numbers of 

 persons were poisoned, and some died, from eating mussels 

 taken from the harbour. It was found that when transferred 

 to open water these mussels became innocuous, while, on the 

 other hand, mussels from outside, placed in the harbour, became 

 poisonous. The cause obviously lay in the stagnant and cor- 

 rupted waters of the harbour, which were rarely freshened by 

 tides. It was proved to demonstration that the poison was not 

 due to decomposition ; the liver of the mussels was tlie poisonous 

 part. In the persons affected, the symptoms were of three 



1 M. S. Lovell, Edible Mollusks, p. 49. - Science, vii. p. 175. 



