of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
197 
and its base occupies the base of the dry bank, but, like the sand of the 
Pillar Bank, it has underneath a substratum of mud. The sand is phelly 
sand, but on the Greenock side of the bank the sand is much coarser than 
elsewhere on the bank. On the Greenock side, opposite the east entrance 
to the Great Harbour, there are heaps of ballast, and gravel also abounds 
at the same place. 
The Cockle Bank dries for three feet opposite the Great Harbour at 
low springs, but the average height of the dry area is about one foot. On 
tho Ardmore side, there is from three inches to one foot of water on the 
bank, and at tho upper end from one to seven feet at low springs. 
There arc very few mussels ou the lower or sandy end of the bank, 
but at the upper end, and on the part along the north-easterly side, there 
is a fair quantity of mussels. The upper end of the bank yielded 250 
tons during the past season. The upper end and the Ardmore side of the 
bank are composed of mud, and good mussels can be obtained from 
this area. 
In addition to lugworm and cockles, the bank is inhabited by such 
forms as Buccinum and Purpura. The numbers of these forms are few, 
and even the lugworm and cockles are anything but abundant. 
Greenock Bank. 
This bank extends downwards as far as Princes Pier, of the Glasgow 
and South- Western Railway, to where the deep-water begins at the Tail 
of the Bank. Its upper boundary may be described nearly as high up as 
the entrance to the Garvel Basin, and here the bank is separated from 
what is known locally as Cabbie Low's Bank by one to two feet of water 
at low springs. The seaward boundary is at the water which stretches 
from the Tail of the Bank towards Ardmore Tower. Cabbie Low's Bank 
is practically a portion of the Greenock Bank, although it dries as a 
separate bank, a quarter of a mile long and 200 yards broad. Indeed, 
the Greenock Bank may be considered as embracing the whole area 
upwards from the Tail of the Bank to nearly the low end of the Cockle 
Bank. The nautical survey does not represent any of the Greenock Bank 
or of Cabbie Low's Bank as dry at low springs ; but, whatever was tho 
condition as to depth when the survey was made, two distinct banks are 
now dry at low springs, viz., one opposite Custom House Quay, and the 
other, Cabbie Low's Bank. Whether this is due to an alteration of the 
level by silting^ I cannot say, but that the portions mentioned become 
dry I had various opportunities of observing. 
The portions that dry do not rise above water for more than a few 
inches. The soil is a sandy mud over the whole extent of the bank, and 
quantities of Ulvacese and Chorda filum are found on it. The extended 
bank is more than a mile and a quarter in length, and the greatest breadth, 
near the upper end, is three quarters of a mile. The low end of the 
Greenock Bank is very sandy, and on the side next the navigable channel 
of the river ballast stones have been deposited. Underneath the sandy 
parts of the bank there is a regular bed of mud. 
During the past season 100 tons of mussels have been lifted off Cabbie 
Low's Bank, and quantities have been obtained from other parts of the 
Greenock Bank. As on the Cockle Bank, great destruction of mussels 
takes place from men and boys tramping over the beds and digging for 
lugworm. On some of the banks, also, numbers of women gather the 
edible whelk, and so tramp and bury the mussels under foot. On a well- 
regulated bed this should be prohibited, as the damage done is much 
more than all the gain got from the lugworm and the whelks. 
