MYTILTM3. 
363 
byssus ; then, •withdrawing the foot suddenly, and hauling on the 
^read, the animal and shell are moved forward. Every time it repeats 
motion it seems to attach an additional hair, so that at the end of 
four and twenty hours it has used many inches in length of 
c ° r dage. In the byssus of some mussels we find as many as a hundred 
ail d fifty 0 f these small threads, with which the animal anchors itself 
^st securely to the rock. Aided by this cordage, the mussel suspends 
ltse lf to vertical rocks, holding on a little above the surface of the 
" a W, so that the shell is smooth and polished as compared with the 
c ° a rse and rugged shell of the oyster. 
o q x 
D *: 
Fig. 148. Byssus, mantle, and oviduct. 
of the mantle; t>, rectum; u, branchiae; h, foot; J, posterior muscle; l, superior tube; 
5 1> ’ vt ‘»tricle; q, auricle; x, p ncardiuiu; b, tentacles; d, byssus; c, gland of the byssus ; g, re- 
‘ ul Uitt rutlscl0 ot foot; h, valves of the mantle; i, oviduct; j, orifice of the excretory organ ; Jc, Uiter- 
J] 
Ue mussels, like the oysters, are gregarious, and widely diffused 
^ r a U European seas. They abound on both sides the Channel, 
. ei * lower price having procured for them the name of “the poor 
u 8 oyster but it is infinitely less digestible and savoury than its 
0ll gener. 
Mi 
Jr, 
aoy of our readers may think that mussels are found on the shore 
°Uun 
state of nature, of good size, well- flavoured, and fit for the table. 
g of the kind ! Detached from the rocks and cliffs of the sea, 
aufi 16 ^ ^ as keen 8 r0W l I1 o ! n a na t ura l state, it is lean, small, acrid, 
Y ^wholesome food ; and it is only when human industry inter- 
es to ameliorate this child of Nature that it becomes palatable and 
