34 
generation in spite of all the experiences they have had which might 
lead at least to them suspecting the contrary. And yet these are 
just the men who cried out so earnestly some years ago about in- 
shore trawling, and do so still. Should the attempt of Major 
Browne to establish a mussel farm at Budle Bay be copied at other 
parts of the coast, it is essential that the fishermen should be 
warned off, as Major Browne had to do ; and that the bait 
should be supplied to them at some rate to be settled by the supply. 
Those who work the beds will only then be in a position to preserve 
portions for providing seed. The fishermen would, I am sure, soon 
begin to see the advantage of getting bait cheaply and easily and 
with their own boats, if the beds were sufficiently numerous, how- 
ever much they might grumble at first at not being allowed to do as 
they like with all that lies in the sea. 
Like other bivalves, the mussel tends to be sedentary, though it 
can move about and even climb, slowly of course, when it feels 
that it might improve its position. The sedentary condition is 
intensified by the byssus threads which are secreted by the foot. 
These anchor the mussel very firmly to the objects beside it. It 
does not, therefore, pursue its food. This must be brought to it 
suspended in the water in which it lives. It can be shown that a 
current is constantly passing into and out of the mussel when 
submerged and undisturbed. The water passes through the gills 
or along the alimentary canal, and so oxygen and food are carried 
into the animal. The food consists of vegetable debris, diatoms 
and other algte. 
One factor of much importance for the well-being of mussels is 
an adequate supply of food. This may be easily seen at Budle Bay. 
The stream-fed mussels, that is to say the mussels which are con- 
stantly under water, grow faster than those which can feed only 
during half a tide. The mussel in fact is liable to considerable 
modification, according to the conditions to which it is exposed. In 
sheltered places, and when constantly under water, the shell is thin, 
and the colour is a beautiful shade of green, as a rule, striped with 
darker lines. In more exposed situations a thicker, coarser shell is 
developed, having a more or less uniform brown or dark-blue colour. 
The form as well as the colour and the size are liable to 
variation. \\ hen crowded together the mussels do not develop so 
last as when they have more room. They tend, moreover, to have 
a rounded form. \\ hen they are planted in small clusters, or grown 
