THE MUSSEL FISHERY. 617 



weave it into gloves and stockings. These latter are rather articles de luxe, however, than gar- 

 ments of wear, and are costly withal, the latter fact depending on the nature of their origin and 

 the trouble of manufacture. Pope Benedict XV received in 1754 from certain of his subjects a 

 pair of stockings of Pinna's 'beard,' and the event was regarded as testifying to the worth of the 

 present and to the dexterity of the inauufactnrers a dexterity which was certainly equaled in 

 respect of its ingenuity by Dame Nature herself in the production of the raw material."* 



The American representatives of the European edible mussel are somewhat different in 

 appearance, as may be seen by comparing specimens of the two varieties. Our shell is more 

 thin, pellucid, and beautiful in ita colors and radiating ornamentation. 



Its home is among the rocks toward low-water mark and in the larger pools, particularly in 

 shallow bays and estuaries, wherever there is an opportunity for anchorage to some firm object, 

 and at the same time more or less mud. It is also frequently found on sandy flats in large patches 

 fastened together by the threads of byssus. Gosse in bis "Tenby " (p. 30) speaks of " myriads of 

 mussels" in a cavern pool at Tenby: "These latter form a remarkable feature of the place; they 

 fringe the walls of the cave and the rocks around up to a certain level; they floor the pools; and 

 they cluster around every stone, being packed so densely that it would not be possible to thrust 

 even the blade of a knife between them without violence. Thus they form great patches, or rather 

 tracts, of intense blackness, from the general hue of the mussel-shells, though on a minute exam- 

 ination we can discover many individuals among the sable host which are beautifully tinted with 

 pellucid olive or golden brown and pointed with radiating bands of purple. They adhere with 

 reat force to the rock and to each other by means of the silky threads of byssus, which they spin 

 as their mooring cables, and which are capable of resisting a strong pull." 



From such sheltered and favorable conditions it ventures out into deeper and rougher life, for 

 Verrill dredged them off Eastport, Me., in 40 or 50 fathoms, where the tide runs with great force, 

 and it has since been dredged in still deeper water in the same region, showing that it can live 

 and prosper equally well under the most diverse conditions. This was not so new information as 

 it seems to be, however, since in the Xew York Journal of August 4, 1785, a nautical correspon- 

 dent informs shipmasters " that in latitude 35 46' and longitude of Cape Hatteras, there is a large 

 mussel-bank, intermixed with cockles and pebbles, in 50 fathoms of water, and abounding in 

 sundry fish, as sea bass, sea trout, flounders, skates, cusk, and dogfish; also in winter ballahs. 

 All these fish are extraordinarily large and numerous." 



To-day the most productive localities for mussels are the swift tideways of the inlets through 

 Fire Island and the other beaches on the southern shore of Long Island, the channels about Sandy 

 Hook, and the inlets of the beaches between Baruegat and Cape May. There are many beds in the 

 lower part of New York Bay, also, particularly north of Point Comfort, near East Point buoy and 

 near the Highlands; also in the East Eiver. 



" The specimens from sheltered localities and sandy bottoms are, however, much more delicate 

 in texture and more brilliant in color than those from more exposed situations. Some of the thin- 

 ner and more delicate specimens, from quiet and pure waters, are translucent and very beautifully 

 colored with brown, olive, green, yellow, and indigo-blue, alternating in radiating bands of differ- 

 ent widths; while others are nearly uniform pale yellow or translucent horn color. Those from 

 the exposed shores are generally thicker, opaque, and plain dull brown, or bluish black, and not 

 unfrequently they are very much distorted."! 



This species breeds early in the spring. The eggs hatch into little free-swimming microscopic 



"Belgravia. t A. E. VERRILL. 



