SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 223 



commonly met with on the sea shore. They are exposed 

 to the air for a long time between each period of high 

 water, and are beyond the reach of a continuous supply 

 of food. " Blue nebs " may justly be regarded as mussels 

 that have ceased growing and are only existing. They 

 are of no money value as food, hence any good return 

 from the transplanting of such mussels would be readily 

 noticed. The result was almost incredible. At the end 

 of about five months, the old, starved, undersized u blue 

 nebs " had grown three-eighths of an inch and reached 

 legal size. The animals were in fine condition and the 

 mussels found a ready market. The fresh growth was 

 sharply defined from the old. This new addition was 

 quite uniform, thin, and of a polished black colour on 

 the outside, a marked contrast to the old ill-shapen and 

 corroded shell. A mussel which under its original con- 

 dition could never be any use as food had been turned into 

 a valuable commodity at very little trouble and expense. 

 To induce two blades of grass to grow in place of one is 

 the desire of the agriculturist. The result from trans- 

 planting " blue nebs " that had not increased in length 

 for years might well be compared with inducing crops 

 to grow on land that had never before produced any. 

 The money value of these mussels that had been trans- 

 planted for £50 is estimated to have been at least £500. 



The result from transplanting " blue nebs " raised 

 the expectation that something better could be had from 

 thinning the overcrowded and more healthy beds and 

 depositing the excess in new areas. This is now being 

 done at Heysham each season. In 1904 the mussels were 

 taken from various skears that constitute the Heysham 

 beds and deposited in three new areas, viz., " Ringhole," 

 " Old Gunnel " and " Seldom Seen " Skears. The mussels 

 laid down in the former place gave the best results, and in 



