MYTILID^E. MUSSEL. 59 



Bordeaux, Charron (from the village of that name, 

 where there is a large mussel trade) ; in Feroese, Kreak- 

 lingur ; in Andalusia, Longherone, and in other parts of 

 Spain, Mocejones, Mexillones, Muscles, and Musclus. 

 The Venetian names for it are Peschio delV arsenale, 

 and Pedacchio di mar, and the Neapolitan, Cozza negra, 

 or Cozza di Tarento. Mussels are used for food in many 

 places, and also for bait, " and on some parts of the 

 Northumberland coast the fishermen have made mussel- 

 gardens for the preservation of those shellfish ; they 

 are formed by piling up stones round certain places on 

 the seashore, between tide-marks, and are carefully 

 watched by their proprietors.'"* 



M. de Quatrefages, in his interesting work, ' Eambles 

 of a Naturalist/ gives an account of the origin and 

 development of the mussel-trade on the French coast. 

 " An Irishman of the name of Walton was shipwrecked 

 on the coast in 1235, near the little village of Esnandes, 

 in the Bay of Aiguillon, and was the only person saved 

 out of all the crew of the ill-fated vessel. He amply 

 repaid the services which had been rendered him ; some 

 sheep were saved from the wreck, which he crossed 

 with the animals of the country, producing a breed of 

 sheep which is still held in high estimation. He in- 

 vented a kind of net, the ' allouret/ for catching birds 

 which skim the surface of the water at twilight or dark, 

 and in order to make these nets thoroughly effective, 

 it was necessary to go to the centre of the immense 

 bed of mud, where the birds sought their food, and to 

 secure a number of poles to support the nets, which 

 were between 300 and 400 yards in length. On exa- 

 mining these poles, Walton discovered that they were 



* ' A Book for the Seaside,' p. 100. 



