OYSTER AND MUSSEL REPORT. 69 
so that mud can wash through. The seaward rows of 
bouchots are for the young mussel spat to attach itself to 
and these alone have no clayonnage, while those further 
up the shore are for the purpose of growing and fattening 
the shell-fish on. 
The spatting time there is in early spring and by the end 
of May the young mussel is the size of a lentil (say ;°, inch 
in length). In July it is about 3 of an inch in length, and 
is then ready to be transplanted to the bouchots further up. 
They are thus gradually moved up the shore as the bouchots 
require to be thinned, and this process educates them to 
bear prolonged exposure to air. The bunches of young 
mussels are detached and are wrapped up in a piece of old 
net and then stuffed into the clayonnage of the bouchots 
d’amonts where they may remain for a year until about 
13 inches long when they are considered ready for 
market. Before the netting has rotted away the mussels 
have managed to attach themselves by their byssus 
threads to the neighbouring branches or to one another. 
I saw no very large mussels, the finest I saw averaged from 
2 to 24 inches in length and were in bunches of 6 to 12, 
but they certainly seemed to be very abundant. The 
bouchots looked black with them, and the boucholeurs 
declared that it was an excellent summer for their industry. 
The weather was unfortunately so dull that I was 
unable to take any satisfactory photographs at Charron. 
The temperature of the water I found to be 73°F. The 
water was exceedingly muddy, and the mud as exposed at 
low tide was so extremely soft that one sank into it at 
once and it was impossible to traverse it in any way except 
by means of an acon. I collected samples of mud from 
various parts of the shore and from the mussels themselves 
and these I have now carefully examined. The mud is a 
yery yellow mud, and is extremely smooth and unctuous 
