212 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
and more digestible than the mussel. Still, the latter has one 
recommendation—it is in season when the oyster is not. The 
oyster is eaten in those months which have an 7 in their name, 
whereas those are the very months in which the mussel is least 
fit for the table. 
But, unfortunately, there is a grave accusation against this 
shell-fish—it is said to be unwholesome! Nay, that even at 
certain times of the year it is actually deleterious; and what 
makes matters worse, the exact time of the year is not accurately 
known. The mussel certainly does produce nausea, colic, and 
sometimes cutaneous eruptions. But the doctors are at a loss to 
account for its action. In the middle ages, it was the belief that 
the phases of the moon, or the evil charms of some witch, suddenly 
caused the mussels to be unwholesome. Now-a-days we are more 
rational, but no nearer the truth. The sulphide of copper from 
the vessels to which the mollusk may have been attached ; some 
peculiar disease of the shell-fish ; the decomposition of its tissue ; 
certain parasites which inhabit it; or the young of the star-fish 
or the medusa which it may have eaten, have all been cited in 
turn to explain the evil effects sometimes occasioned by eating 
mussels, 
There is a branch of industry known as mussel culture, just 
as there is oyster culture. It is carried on in many localities, 
particularly at Esnandes, at Marsilly, and at Charron, in the Bay 
of Aiguillon, near Rochelle. This peculiar industry owes its estab- 
lishment to that mother of many inventions—necessity. About 
the year 1235, a bark, in which three Irishmen were endeavour- 
ing to transport sheep to England, was driven by a storm to the 
French coast, and was wrecked in the rocky creek of Aiguillon, 
near to Rochelle. Exiled upon the wild shore of Aunis, Walton, 
the ingenious captain of the bark, was driven to many expedients 
to keep himself alive. The shores of the bay stretched for miles 
in interminable mud flats, which were frequented by flocks of 
sea-birds. To catch these, he invented a kind of net, sup- 
ported upon posts; during the night the sea-birds became 
entangled in the meshes, and so were secured. In process of time, 
the observant Irishman noticed that the mussels made his posts 
