56 
question what the mussels will do; at present there 
are iat least:ten where one full-grown one can live. . In. 
some places where the tide has great power, it. has 
(assisted by trawling vessels) worked through the mud 
under the mass of mussels, and lifted them bodily 
‘away; this only ‘appears to «distribute them more: 
evenly. Nature, however, is chard at ‘work setting. 
matters right. In the first place, .as d- predicted 
last year, enormous quantities of fish have made their 
‘appearance, ‘so much so that although the channel is 
- ‘only about twoimiles long by a ‘quarter-of-a-mile wide 
at low water, there are always several trawl. boats (on 
one day there were 15) at work, in addition to many 
boats fishing with lines, and yet there is no diminution 
of the supply. The fish are being largely assisted 
by other creatures; starfishes are especially plentiful. 
‘Another singular phenomenon attracted my attention. 
For a ‘number of years ‘past the ‘nars, or ross, ‘the 
curious sort of sand coral, built and inhabited by 
-countless millions of ‘annelids, has been in a very 
dilapidated state, ragged looking, and very rotten, as 
if'the worms had seen their best days, and were rapidly 
going down hill; now simultaneously with the great 
mussel fall, these 'nars have taken a fresh start, the old 
rugged lumps:are covered witha new regular growth, 
and ‘the ‘rotten parts have become consolidated and 
firm ‘to ‘the tread; ‘not only ‘this, but new ones -are 
springing up between the mussels over vast tracts 
‘which have never previously borne them. As a proof 
of the great vitality at present existing, I secured two 
young ‘whelks,—B. undatum,—evidently last year’s 
brood, each of which carried‘on its back a lump about 
