of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



329 



tide flows like a mill race through the narrow and shallow Inch Burn, so 

 that none of the young molluscs are found on the south side of Rossie 

 Island. Where, however, the Inch and Southesk currents divide to the 

 north-west of Rossie Island, there is a narrow strip of the shore of the 

 island which, in alternate years, is carpeted with a covering of young 

 mussels. Binny Bank, stretching out like a spit of land into the stream, 

 forms an obstruction, diverts the outgoing tide to the south in a deeper 

 channel, and serves as a catchment bed. The Scalp on the east side of 

 the suspension bridge is analogous to the convex bank of a river where 

 the water flows much slower than on the concave opposite bank, and so 

 forms a suitable area for the anchoring of the embryonal forms by their 

 byssus secretions. The backward eddy between the Scalp and Rossie 

 Island carries the embryos on to the north-east shore of Rossie, and so 

 every second or third year a quantity of ' seed ' is to be obtained from a 

 narrow stretch of shore there. When the velum of the embryo atrophies, 

 the active young mollusc loses its most important locomotor apparatus, 

 and so sinks, becoming fixed to the bottom on the development of its 

 byssus. Consequently the bed of the river is a fruitful source of ' seed.' 

 We might almost expect a greater development of seed on the north and 

 south banks of the river below Ferryden and Montrose, but there a strong 

 rush of a backward current runs in an opposite direction to the flowing 

 or ebbing tide. This current operates against the fixing of the young on 

 the banks of the river, and even when the young do fix themselves to 

 the shingle, the silting of the river sometimes destroys the seed by bury- 

 ing it. 



1 Seed ' is, therefore, obtained from the river for Messrs Johnston's beds, 

 and also for the Ferryden beds. Fortunately for the Ferryden Society, 

 the spat of the mussel is fixed over a good extent of their ground. The 

 most favourably situated Ferryden ground is the Scalp, which lies between 

 Rossie Island and the harbour. Every second or third year the young 

 attach themselves to a portion of the shore of Rossie Island, in close 

 proximity to the Scalp, where the down stream forms an eddy in the lee 

 of it. Where the Southesk impinges against the westward bank of 

 Rossie Island, in the neighbourhood of the Trout Shot, the young mussels 

 become attached, but this is not oftener than every alternate, or some- 

 times every third year. All these are places where one would naturally 

 expect the young on liberation from the mother to come in contact with, 

 for they lie in the course of the current, from the beds on which the 

 mature molluscs are situated, and the current of the ebbing tide, especially 

 below the suspension bridge, is not so strong on the south side of the 

 river. Besides these three localities which furnish seed, the south bank 

 of the river below Ferryden sometimes supplies as much seed as will cover 

 all the Ferryden Society's beds. 



Messrs Johnston & Sons have a very small extent of ground as com 

 pared with this on which they can gather 'seed.' They must either buy 

 it from the fishers who rake the river-bed, or obtain it from Binny or 

 Briggs of Binny. The result, of course, is a greatly increased expenditure 

 for stocking the beds with growing mussels. Sometimes seed has been 

 obtained by taking quantities off the foreshore rocks. These rocks on the 

 sea coast and on the north side of the river below the wet-dock, and the 

 pier-supports are partially covered with young molluscan forms, but the 

 barnacles are much more numerous. 



When the seed attains a suitable size — about the size of an ordinary 

 bean — it is dragged from its bed by means of rakes into the cobles. 

 The Ferryden Society employ several men who combine the occupations 

 of seed gathering, planting, and lifting mussels, while a number of other 



y 



