of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



237 



mussels are very small and thin, too small and thin to be of any value 

 for bait. Although all the specimens examined in October and 

 November were quite thin, in the Spring the reproductive lobes were 

 spreading into the mantle to a small extent, so that they probably still 

 shed some spat." 



I received some information from the Elginshire deputation of fisher- 

 men regarding the mussels near Dingwall and at Findhorn. At the 

 former locality mussels about two inches in length were to be obtained 

 in September, but by next Spring nothing remained of them but empty 

 shells. The fishermen said that they filled up with sand. 



In the Findhorn, according to Mr. Masson, mussels taken out of the 

 deep in September and put into shallow water open up to the warm sun 

 and die Calderwood mentions that " seed taken from deep-water beds 

 will not admit of being carried so well as seed which is inured to 

 exposure from being left bare by the tide." 



Gregg Wilson, in his repoit on the mussel beds of Northumberland, 

 recommended that, " where there are not at present mussels, but where 

 there is shelter from storms, freedom from shifting sand and mud, a 

 fairly hard bottom, and a good current of water, mussels might be laid 

 down by way of experiment." 



Mr Wm. M'Bride, jnr., Pirnmill, Arran, who was one of the deputation 

 of Buteshire fishermen attending the demonstrations in 1906, informed 

 me that the mussels on the wharves grew the fastest in that locality. 

 According to M'Intosh, " the fishermen regard the mussels got on the piles 

 of the bridge the finest examples. (River Esk, England.)" 



At Kiel the mussels, according to Mobius u. Meyer, are cultivated on 

 branches of trees that are stuck into the bottom below low-water mark. 



The salinity of the water exerts an influence on the size of the mussels. 

 Brandt says in this connection that in Kielbight the mussel grows to a 

 size of 110mm, (4| inches), but in the Gulf of Bothnia, where the 

 salinity of the water is less, the mussel only reaches a size of about 

 one inch. Moreover, the shell of the Baltic mussel is thinner and 

 lighter than the North Sea mussel, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 water of the Baltic has the larger proportion of lime in it. In the 

 Kaiser Wilhelm Canal Brandt found that the salinity of the water 

 decreased as one proceeded along it, from east to west. Ripe mussels 

 were found of a smaller size in the fresher parts, viz., at 17-22mm. in 

 length (|-g-inch), than in the Salter portion of the canal, where the 

 smallest were from 35 to 40mm. (1 4 -If -inch) in length. 



The Age cf the Mussel. — " A size suitable for bait, viz., 2 inches 

 in length, would be about two years old in a favourable locality. In less 

 favourable localities, where the mussels are left long dry, the time taken 

 to reach the size indicated appears to vary from 4 to 8 or 10 years " 

 (Calderwood). 



In the Wash, according to Donnison, "a 2 years old mussel on a high 

 scalp is probably not 1^ inches in length, but on low ground the length 

 is probably 3 inches." 



Two lots of mussels were obtained from St. Andrews. The first lot, 

 which was estimated to be conposed of two-years-old mussels, measured 

 from 1-| to 2 inches, shown in natural size in figs. 1 and 2. The other 

 lot, consisting of three-y ears-old mussels, varied in length from 2 to 

 2| inches (figs. 4 and 5). 



In Northumberland Lebour states that a mussel 2 inches long and 

 about g-inch in thickness is considered a fair bait. " The mussels," at 

 Budle Bay, ' are from a year and a half to two years old when they are 

 lifted and planted in the stream channels, where they are covered for six 

 or seven hours each tide, or even not uncovered at all, as these last are 

 Q 



