296 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



130 miles. During the first two months of the year the mussel- 

 fry attach themselves to the bouchots next the sea, and by May 

 have grown sufficiently large to be scraped off without diffi- 

 culty. They are then placed in small bags made of old canvas 

 and the like, which are fixed to stakes further from the sea. 

 Ultimately the bags rot away, leaving the mussels hanging in 

 bunches by their byssal threads. As time goes on they are 

 transferred further and further landwards, till by the time the 



1 



Fig. 1216. Part of a Baltic Musselry 



innermost stakes are reached they are large enough to gather 

 for sale. The annual yield of Esnaudes is valued at not less 

 than ,52,000. 



The Cockle (Cardium edule). As a cheap, if indigestible, sub- 

 stitute for the oyster this -bivalve is largely eaten by the populace 

 in this and other countries. It burrows in the sand or mud of 

 bays and estuaries, and is captured by raking at low tide. More- 

 cambe Bay, Caermarthen Bay, and the estuary of the Teign are 

 notable localities. Statistics for this country are not available, 

 for even in the Reports of the Scottish Fishery Board the 



