CH. VI.] SHELL-FISH IN SCOTCH SEA-LOCHS. 81 



informant was joking, but, on landing, found that 

 he was not only in earnest but perfectly correct, 

 the whole of it being one mass of mussels (mostly 

 small), lying edgeways, and so densely packed that 

 it would have been apparently a matter of diffi- 

 culty to insert a pin's point between any two of 

 them. It seemed difficult to comprehend how, 

 under the circumstances, they could manage to 

 open their shells sufficiently for the necessary 

 functions of life. Oysters too were numerous, but 

 in consequence of the increasing demand for them 

 they are more sought after than they used to 

 be, and it would not be perhaps now quite so 

 easy to gather a sackful as it was a few years 

 ago. Vessels also come round occasionally for 

 winkles, and take away cargoes of them to Glas- 

 gow, but there are apparently enough to withstand 

 such inroads for many a long year to come. On 

 the mussels it would seem that nothing can make 

 the least impression, so vast are their numbers. 



Of all the fish which inhabit the Scotch 

 lochs, Cuddies are by far the most numerous. 

 They seem perfectly ubiquitous there, and oc- 

 casionally swarm to an astonishing degree; so 

 much so sometimes as positively to discolour the 

 water in places where abundance of food has 



G 



