LOCH C RE RAN. 



been made barren of algae but a month or two ago, 

 showed scarce a yard of bottom. 



What harm can mussels do to oysters ! indeed. Just 

 come round this way; and we take our incredulous friend 

 to the few hundred molluscs lately thrown from the boat 

 at random on the foreshore. On the gravel, of late, a 

 deposit of young mussels has been rapidly maturing, and 

 upon these the large oysters from deeper water had ac- 

 cidentally been thrown. We lift one after another to find 

 the byssus of the mussel firmly attached, and gradually 

 extending over the shells, which are closed for a time at 

 low water. A very few days and a good few of these strong 

 oysters with powerfully developed muscles would have 

 been most effectually choked by the numerous tenacious 

 cords of the mussel having closed the shell too firmly to 

 permit the "spring" of the oyster to expand and open it. 

 What would they not have done to a bed of small, delicate- 

 shelled oysters in a similar position ? It is impossible to 

 estimate the injury done in this way to an oyster bed by 

 a shell fish which grows to a certain maturity with great 

 rapidity. There is a large bank of mussels of a certain 

 size at the mouth of the river Awe that are said to die 

 down every autumn when they reach a certain stage ; so 

 that those about an inch or so in length must be but six 

 months old. At this age an oyster is a delicate helpless 

 creature, while these mussels are capable of forming a 

 bank of such a mass, and so tied together, that nothing 

 has a chance upon it but themselves. 



The young barnacles already cover every possible van- 

 tage ground in countless thousands ; shells, wattling, 

 stones all are alive with the sharp-edged mischiefs. It 

 is interesting to note how the various classes of shells in- 

 termingle, the young of one class seating themselves on 



