244 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
subject are apparently based on experiments made outside of the body by arti- 
ficial methods, imitating as closely as possible the conditions in the body, but not 
at all certain to be exactly the same. The artificial process takes much longer 
than the natural, yet proportionally the results are similar. For example, 
under natural conditions soft-boiled eggs will digest more quickly than hard- 
boiled ones. By the artificial method the process takes twice the time for each, 
but about the same proportionate results are obtained. 
The third requisite, nutritive value, involves such questions as the ratio of 
edible portion to refuse, together with the chemical composition. A good food 
must supply for the least money a proper amount of nutrients to build and 
repair tissue and furnish energy for the body. 
In the fourth place, the food must be so abundant and easily obtained that 
it can be sold reasonably cheap. 
Any hitherto unused substance that measures up well to these standards 
ought to find its way into our regular bill of fare. 
THE COMMON SEA MUSSEL. 
Now the common sea mussel, Mytilus edulis, is one of our most common 
shellfish, in size varying from 2 to 4 inches long by about 1% inches in diameter. 
The shell is very thin, of a violet color, and covered with an epidermis of shining 
blue-black. Mussels grow in great beds along both our Atlantic and Pacific 
coasts, and on the coasts of Europe and Asia. 
Very little use is made of the mussel in this country, it being utilized only 
as bait to some extent and on Long Island for fertilizer. In Europe it entirely 
replaces as a food the common clam, which, though abundant, is used neither for 
bait nor food. Why the mussel is so neglected in America Ganong lays to the 
fact that the Indians superstitiously avoided it, while they ate the clam, thus 
leading the early white settlers to do the same thing, a habit that has been con- 
tinued to this day. Only in and about New York City do we find a call for 
mussels as food, and this is limited. 
From the standpoint of palatability I have unanimous testimony from 
scores of persons who have eaten mussels prepared in various ways—pickled, 
steamed, roasted, and fried. All acknowledged that in flavor they are superior 
to clams and quite equal to the oyster. I have unsought testimony from a 
lady who, with her daughter, spent a season on the Rhode Island coast and there 
learned to eat the mussel. She says: 
Two years ago we boarded a little while at Matunuck, R. I., 3 miles west from Point 
Judith. There are large mussel beds there, and we were told that they were particularly 
nourishing for people of weak digestion. My daughter was very fond of them. We 
boiled them like clams or roasted them on hot stones and found them most delicious, 
particularly when roasted. We ate quarts every day and have longed for them ever 
since. My daughter gained strength while there, and it was the only time that she 
seemed to gain during the summer. 
