38 MUSSEL CULTURE 



is divided, the larger part belonging to the Earl 

 of Eglinton, -the remainder to the burgh of Irvine. 



Several points of interest are raised from a 

 study of the various beds enumerated. 



It may be noted that there are great stretches 

 of coast where no mussel beds of special value 

 exist, but where important fishing centres are 

 situated. Between the Ythan beds, just north of 

 Aberdeen, for instance, and the river Findhorn in 

 the Moray Firth, there are no mussel beds which, 

 to my knowledge, can be regarded as of any im- 

 portance, if indeed there are any true beds at all. 

 But in this stretch of coast the towns of Peterhead, 

 Fraserburgh, Macduff, Banff, Buckie, Portsoy, 

 Lossiemouth, and Burghead occur, all important 

 from a fishing point of view, and all provided with 

 railway communication. Line-fishermen in this 

 part of Scotland are entirely dependent on the 

 transportation of mussels, being supplied very 

 largely from the Clyde scalps at Greenock. 



The Ythan beds, we have seen, do not as a rule 

 supply more than a purely local demand, yet 

 south of this, by Aberdeen and Stonehaven, there 

 are no beds worth mentioning till we reach 

 Montrose. 



