36 
sea by the stream, and it is only where the current is checked that 
a general deposit is possible. This occurs on the higher portions of 
the ground, and in the lower portions at places where eddies occur 
in the stream. The favourable conditions might well be extended 
by altering the bed of the stream so as to make it take a sinuous 
course. Post and wattles and walls, if so built as to cause eddies 
and check the current, in the more likely places, would, I am sure, 
still further give the lame a chance of spinning their byssus 
anchorage, 
It has been pointed out that the mussel does not thrive in 
situations where it can only feed during a few hours every day. It 
is therefore necessary to remove the seed to a better feeding ground 
when it has reached a length of £-inch to f-inch. Fullarton says 
that mussels should at least measure f-inch before being lifted. 
The majority should be of that size at any rate. In another paper, 
the same authority says that in France “ by autumn of the same 
year they were deposited,” the mussels “have attained the size of 
haricot beans, when they are fit to be removed to the higher 
boucliots.” At Budle Bay, at the time of lifting, the mussels are 
at least eighteen months old — say eighteen to twenty-four months. 
It must be remembered, of course, when considering this disparity 
that for one thing, with the French system, the spat is under water 
practically constantly during this initial period of growth, whereas 
the great majority of these we are now considering can only feed for 
from two to four hours during each tide. 
In fact the bouchot system and that we are now describing are 
exactly opposite. In France the mussels are gradually removed 
from the outer to the inner boucliots, so that they get less and less 
feeding the older they get. Here the mussels get the least chance 
of feeding in their young condition, and are changed to more and 
more suitable ground for feeding until they are finally fattened in 
the stream. 
The temperature at Budle Bay, moreover, varies a good deal, 
and during the summer there must be many a day during which the 
exposed mussels must get a roasting. The water also as it comes 
lapping over the warm sand will be very warm at first, and will 
gradually get colder and colder as the tide advances. Such mussels 
and spat as are exposed for many hours every day will thus have to 
cope with a considerable variation in temperature. Their conditions 
