of the Fishcnj Board for Scotland. 
195 
Etive were visited, and the mussels wcro lifted regardless of the future 
condition of the beds in these lochs. In this way, for the time being, the 
beds there were destroyed, and the over-fishing prevented the seeding and 
restocking of tho beds for several years thereafter. Moreover, the increased 
demand for mussels tends to make the mussel merchants and mussel 
rakers seek to lift mussels before they are completely filled and of a lit 
size for bait. This is one of the contributing causes to the impoverish- 
ment of the Clyde beds. 
The Clyde mussel area can be conveniently divided into three portions, 
grouped round the three chief banks — viz., Pillar Bank, Cockle Bank, 
and Greenock Bank. 
1. Pillar Bank. 
The Pillar Bank extends seawards along the north-east shore of the 
Clyde from the town of Dumbarton. Most of the bank is within the 
limits of the jurisdiction of the Clyde Trustees, but within these limits it 
is almost entirety unsuitable for the rearing of mussels, the bank being 
from 1 to 5 feet dry at low springs. The part of the bank which is of 
interest from a myticultural point of view is that below the series of 
perches in a line between Newark Castle, in Port-Glasgow, and Cardross 
Burn, in Dumbartonshire. The distance across the river Clyde along this 
boundary is 1 J nautical miles. From the Clyde Trustees' boundary 
the Pillar Bank stretches, as a tongue-shaped mass, in a north-west 
direction as far down as in a line from Ardmore Bay to Inchgreen Gas 
Works, i.e., for more than 1 mile. This is the length of bank which dries 
at lowest springs ; and the breadth of dry bank along the limit of the 
Clyde Trustees' jurisdiction is about 1 mile. These boundaries give 
the extent of the Pillar Bank, which dries at lowest springs ; but for con- 
venience sake we may also consider with it the submerged continuation 
of the Pillar Bank, known as the Flats and the Hulloch More. The 
mussel ground of the Pillar Bank, the Flats, and Hulloch More is, there- 
fore, quite 2J miles long, and extends in a north-westerly direc- 
tion as far as Ardmore Head. Along the Dumbartonshire coast the 
mussel growing area begins a quarter of a mile above the line of Perches 
in Cardross Bay, dips into Cardross Bay, follows the 5 feet line to opposite 
Ardmore Tower, and gradually w r ends outwards to a depth of 12 feet at 
Ardmore Head, -From the last-mentioned point the boundary line curves 
round, and runs alongside the diagonal deep channel between the Cockle 
Bank and the Pillar Bank, extending topwards to opposite Port-Glasgow. 
The upper boundary of the mussel area begins about 200 yards above 
Perch No. 1, then winds below Perch No. 2 till it is 200 yards below the 
Clyde Trustees' boundary, and curves upwards after passing No. 3 Perch 
till it is a quarter of a mile above the boundary opposite Cardross. 
The Pillar Bank area may be considered as stretching from Cardross to 
Ardmore Head, and from the latter, curving along the deep channel, to 
opposite Port-Glasgow. In this area the only ground quite unsuitable for 
mussel cultivation is the sand banks of Ardmore Bay, and the sand, 
which stretches continuously from that bay past the Rilie Target and the 
Brick Kilns to Cardross Bay. The mussel area is outlined on the 
accompanying map. (PI. V.). 
Most of this area is covered with mud, and this also is universally 
the case for. the deep running up from Ardmore to Cardross, and the 
deep from Ardmore Head towards Port-Glasgow, and also for most of the 
flats. The mud is not so soft and deep as is found on many mussel beds, 
and at many places it is intermixed with sand. Most of the Pillar Bank 
that dries is composed of sandy mud, and in some places of sand, but the 
