600 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



The sea mussel begins its active life as a very minute organism, 

 covered with little cilia, somewhat like those which clothe the gills 

 of the adult, and through the activity of these it has a feeble mobility 

 of its own, although dependent for its larger locomotion on the cur- 

 rents of the water in which it is suspended. Like other lamellibranch 

 or bivalve Mollusca, it is exceedingly prolific, producing young in 

 myriads to be disseminated broadcast by tidal currents and, after a 

 brief, vagrant existence, to settle down and become attached. 



The oyster becomes fixed by its shell, but the mussel anchors itself 

 to the bottom or to bodies in the water by means of a tuft of black 

 fibers, the byssus, or so-called beard. The flexibility of this anchor- 

 age and the fact that the shells lie with their long axes vertical, per- 

 mits a given area of bottom to support a density of population almost 

 incredible. In places, extensive beds have been found, with an 

 average croj) of 4,000 to 6,000 bushels per acre, and when it is under- 

 stood that these were produced within a space of two years and that 

 on account of the thinness of the shells the proportion of meats to 

 total bulk is greater than in oysters, in some measure the potential 

 food value of these beds may be realized. 



This delectable shellfish is abundantly used and much prized in 

 Europe, particularly in England and France, where the natural 

 supply is supplemented by a rather elaborate system of mussel cul- 

 ture, but it is very little known, except to a few gourmets, in most 

 parts of the United States. A few years ago the Bureau of Fisheries 

 introduced it in the markets of Boston and other cities in New Eng- 

 land, where it has become an established commodity, but some diffi- 

 culty was encountered in providing a steady supply on acount of the 

 reluctance of the fishermen and oystermen to undertake something 

 new. The general awakening to the necessity of providing new 

 sources of animal food, induced by the emergency conditions of a 

 country in a state of war, has excited interest on the part of poten- 

 tial mussel producers, and new supplies are being developed. 



The mussel as a food is palatable, digestable, nutritious, and eco- 

 nomical. It can be prepared in a great variety of ways, adaptable 

 to almost any taste. It can be cooked in practically any way in 

 which the oyster may be used, and the French have devised many 

 particularly palatable recipes, as can be testified by almost any per- 

 son who has lived in France. Wlien our troops come home, m^nj 

 of them will bring back agreeable memories of this mollusk. 



One of the causes operating against the use of some of the best 

 of our food fishes is the prejudice against the unusual in form or 

 color. " Fish " to most persons suggests a certain definite type of 

 shape and general appearance, and anything which departs mate- 

 rially from this preconception is regarded with suspicion. The goose- 



