90 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



sumption of mussels for bait annually in Newhaven alone 

 may be reckoned at 4,320,000/' {Br. Kna2:)p^ in Forbes 

 and Hanley) . " Mussels are kept in many places in artificial 

 beds, to be used when required for bait. At Anstruther, 

 in Eifeshire, we have seen these little mussel- gardens, as 

 they are called — little plots of sea-shore, between tide-marks, 

 edged in by stones, and held as private property." {Forhes 

 and Hanley.) 



As food, mussels are well known. When in good condi- 

 tion they are esteemed nutritious and pleasant ; but their 

 consumption is not unattended with danger ; for it some- 

 times happens that after taking them persons have been 

 seized with a peculiar illness, for which it is impossible to 

 account, although the symptoms have been accurately de- 

 scribed, and treatises have been written on the subject. Un- 

 til the precise state of the mussels (or of the patient) which 

 induces the disorder be known, it will be impossible to 

 know whether in a dish of them you are taking wholesome 

 food or poison. 



For pearls, such as they are, the mussel is sought in its 

 haunts by multitudes who obtain a livehhood by it. The 

 following account of the fishery in the river Conway, from 

 the ' Magazine of Natural History,' is very interesting : — 



