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 
