THE MUSSEL. 



nioiikkd in tin; groove of the foot, until it attains the 

 6lKi]ie and consistency of a thread. 



When tlie mussel wishes to fix its byssns, it elongates 

 its foot, moves it to right and left, feels the different 

 olijects aronnd it, rests its point against that which it 

 selects for its future support, deposits tliereon the 

 extremity of the thread, and abruptly withdrawing its 

 foot, leaves this extremity adherent. The bivalve 

 repeats this manoeuvre several times, each time attach- 

 ing a new thread. It securely fastens four or five of 

 these in about twent3'-fouv hours, each thread being 

 several centimetres in height, and terminating in a small 

 liook {enipdtement). The anchorage is complete when it 

 has produced a bundle. In the byssus of some species of 

 mussels we find as many as a hundred and fifty of 

 these tiny cables ; none of our men-of-war can be more 

 securely moored. 



When the mussel has extended its first rope, it puts it 

 to the test, that it may make certain of its being firmly 

 fastened. It draws on it strongly as if to break it. If 

 the thread resists this effort, the industrious bivalve sets 

 to work to produce and attach a second cable, which it 

 proves like the former. Decidedly the mussel has more 

 intelligence than the oyster. 



With the help of its byssus this bivalve suspends 

 itself at different elevations; it seldom touches the 

 ground, and for this reason its shell is always very 

 smooth and clean. We cannot say as much of the 

 valves of its proud rival, wdiich, grey and rugged, fre- 

 quently inclose in their intervals small particles of 

 earth, sand, and all kinds of foreign filth. 



The mussels, like the oysters, are social molluscs. 

 They are found in great nimibers in almost every part 

 of the world. They love the blending of salt and fresh 

 water; there are few rocky points, at the river mouths, 

 wliere we do not meet with some flourishing colony. 

 Sometimes they attach themselves to the branches of 

 polypods, and the roots of trees; sometimes to sub- 

 merged pieces of timber, the piles of the shore, and the 

 keels of boats. 



The mussel may be eaten either raw or cooked. 

 Its taste is not pleasing to everybody ; yet tliere are 

 persons of gastronomic reputation who hold it in liigh 

 esteem. Louis XVIII. of France was passionately 

 I'ond of mussels, and had them brought every week 

 Irom Rochelle to Paris. The monarch one day, in a 

 fit of special good humour, taught Talleyrand the recipe 

 fur a sauce of Cayenne pepper, which thenceforth placed 

 this bivalve in the rank of dainties of the first order. 



Yet it must be acknowledged that the mussel is less 

 appetizing than the oyster, less stimulating, and, above 

 all, less digestible. We must not forget a gastronomical 

 recommendation of great importance : oysters may lie 

 eaten in every month whose name in the calendar 

 contains the letter r, while the contrary is the case 

 with mussels. 



At an earlj' period man conceived the iilea of bringing 

 up, training, or, if you prefer the word, educating the 

 mussel. There exists a Diytilkulture, as well as an 

 ostreiculture. This education in some localities is con- 

 ducted on a very extensive scale; as at Esnandes, at 

 Marsilly, and at Charron, in the Bay of Aiguillon, 

 near Rochelle. 



A recent writer gives the following account of Iho 

 establishment of the mussel farms in this vicinity : — 

 In 1236 a vessel freighted with sheep, and manned 

 by three Irishmen, was wrecked upon the rocks in the 

 creek of Aiguillon, a few miles from Ilochelle. The 

 neighbouring fishermen hastened to the rescue of the 

 little crew, but only succeeded, with great difliculty, in 

 saving the life of the master, one Patrick Walton. 

 Exiled on the solitary banks of the Aunis, Walton at 

 first supported himself by hunting the sea-fowl, which 

 frequented the shore and adjacent marshes in immense 

 numbers. He was a man of considerable ingenuity, 

 and to facilitate his captures he invented or adapted a 

 peculiar kind of net, which he called the niijht ntt. 

 This apparatus was a net of from three to four 

 hundred yards in length by three hundred in breadth, 

 stretched horizontally, like a screen, along the tranquil 

 surface of the bay, and secured in its position by stout 

 posts driven into the muddy bottom. In the daik 

 night the wild fowd, as they sailed along the waters, 

 would come in contact with the net, and entangle 

 themselves in its tenacious meshes. 



But the Bay of Aiguillon was little more than a 

 vast expanse of mud, wdiich could with difliculty be 

 ploughed by boats ; and AValton, having arranged his 

 bird-net, found himself compelled to devise some kind 

 of machine in which to navigate with greater ease and 

 swiftness. The result of his labours was the flat- 

 bottomed square-sided boat, which we in England 

 call a 2wnl, but wdiich, on the Roman coast, is known 

 as an aeon. 



Walton's punt had a wooden framewoik, nine feet 

 long by three feet broad and deep, with the fore part 

 descending into the water like a prow, at a slight angle. 

 In propelling the boat, the punlsman pileiced himself in 

 the stern, and kneeling on his right knee, bent for- 

 ward, with one hand on each gunwale, and his left leg 

 outside the boat. A vigorous push with the left foot 

 communicated an impetus to this strange machine, 

 which made it slide over the mud with rapidity, from 

 one point to another. 



Mussels were plentiful in this muddy bay, and 

 Walton's quick observation soon remarked that the)' 

 attached tliemselves by preference to that part of his 

 posts which rose above the surface of the mud, and that 

 those so placed were both fatter and more savoury 

 than those which lay embedded in the slime. In this 

 circumstance he detected the foundation of a kind of 

 rintsselcuUure, wdiich promised to be more profitable 

 than fowling, and less laborious. lie was a man of 

 more than ordinary ability, and he speedily worked out 

 the new principle to a very successful result. 



" The practices he introduced," says M. Coste, 

 " were so skilfully adapted to the necessities of the 

 industry be had founded, that, though six centuries 

 liave elapsed, they still remain the rules by wdiich it is 

 governed. He seems to have applied himself to the 

 enterprise, not only with a consciousness of the service 

 he was rendering to his contemporaries, but also with 

 a yearning to be remembered by posterit\', for in every 

 instance he gave to the apparatus he invented the form 

 of the initial letter of his name, W. It was not until 

 prolonged consideration that he commenced to carry 



