BELFAST DREDGING COMMITTEE. 223 
Species. Observations. 
LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. 
Lucina borealis ............| dead |Not uncommon in 6 to 12 fathoms. Of large size in 
the alluvial deposits at Belfast. 
—— spinifera ............| dead |Very rare, in 20 fathoms off Black Head, valves united. 
—— flexuosa........ «seese,| dead |Rare, in 5 fathoms, and in the alluvial deposits. 
Montacuta substriata...... living |Rare, on Spatangus purpureus, in 20 to 25 fathoms off 
Black Head. 
—— bidentata ............ dead |Rare, off Bangor. 
Turtonia minuta .........| living |Abundant between tide marks. Found in great quantity 
in the stomachs of Mullet taken in the Harbour near 
Belfast. In one fish taken in Larne Lough and the 
contents of the stomach given to me by W. Darragh, 
Curator to the Belfast Museum, I estimated 35,000 
of these little shells. 
Kellia suborbicularis...... dead |Rare, in mud from 10 fathoms, 
— rubra....... aie dard sewa living |Common between tide marks. 
Mytilus edulis ...... ...ee-| living | Very abundant on banks uncovered by the tide on both 
sides of the Bay. They were in former days very 
abundant on the banks off Holywood,when they were 
used as food, and also for bait. Now they have be- 
come less plentiful and not so good in quality, and 
1 are not so much sought after. Captain White, Har- 
bour Master, tells me that in his early days it was a 
common saying that ‘‘ Mussels and Hemp paid the 
Holywood rent.” The Hemp was then grown for 
making fishing gear, but has long ceased to be so 
used. In Benn’s History of Belfast, it is stated that 
in 1739 and the following year, in consequence of the 
great frost, crowds of wretched people from Belfast 
and other places assembled on the Warren at Holy- 
wood, and, pitching tents there, lived on the Mussels 
found on the banks. 
Mr. Patterson in his ‘ Zoology for Schools ’ records a 
similar case as having happened in 1792 or 1793, 
when about 20 families of poor people came from the 
interior of the country and encamped along the road- 
side and on the beach a short way to the west of 
Holywood. They remained there about five weeks, 
subsisting principally upon the mussels from the 
banks. 
Mussels grow very rapidly, as a vessel lying in the Old 
Channel for less than three months was found to be 
covered with them, fully an inch in length. They 
also attach themselves to the buoys, and even to 
the pilot-smack which is kept sailing through the 
Harbour. 
living |Common at various depths from 6 fathoms. They are 
dredged up in from 6 to 10 fathoms off Groomsport, 
and used extensively as bait for Haddock and other 
fish. They are also eaten by the fishermen. Very 
commonly occupied by Pinnotheres pisum, the Pea 
Modiola Modiolus......... 
& Crab. 
& —— Tulipa ........sseeeee living |Rare, in about 10 fathoms and deeper. 
’ Crenella discors............| living |Rare, at the roots of Antennularia and other zoophytes 
te in from 10 to 25 fathoms. 
.| living |Very common imbedded in Ascidia mentula, and some- 
times moored by a byssus to shells and seaweed. 
dead |Rare, in shell sand from 27 fathoms; valves united. 
Nucula Nucleus....... ....| living |Common in muddy ground from 5 fathoms and deeper. 
—— nitida ...............| dead |Rare, in shell sand from 27 fathoms. 
—— radiata .........+«...| living |Rare, off Groomsport. Edward Waller, Esq. 
 |——“marmorata ........ 
—«| —— decussata .........66. 
