he has now drawn up the exhaustive account of the 

 structure of this important economic Molhisc which I 

 have put at the end of the present Report. In addition 

 to the account of the structure — illustrated by six plates — 

 there is an Appendix upon Cockling in the Lancashire 

 District, based upon statistics supplied by Mr. Dawson, 

 Mr. Ascroft, some of the bailiffs, and the Furness Railway 

 Co., and illustrated by a map showing the distribution of 

 the cockle beds. 



It is interesting to notice that, from comparison of these 

 figures for last year with the Report of the Commissioners 

 (Mr. F. Buckland and Mr. Spencer AValpole) who examined 

 the Morecambe Bay fisheries in 1879, we can come to the 

 important conclusion that there is no reason to suppose 

 that there has been any serious falling off in the produc- 

 tiveness of these beds during the 21 years, or, at least, 

 that the annual produce of the Morecambe district is 

 very much the same now that it was 21 years ago. 



Mr. Johnstone has, however, found it no easy matter to 

 get statistics for the two periods that are really comparable. 

 It is not easy to realise, until one goes into the matter, 

 how difficult it is to get full and reliable statistics in 

 regard to any fishery in our own district, even as recently 

 as last year, and it is quite exceptional to have any infor- 

 mation in regard to one 20 or 50 years ago. This is 

 another example of the necessity for a more perfect system 

 of recording the extent, nature, and value of our coast 

 fisheries than we at present have, an additional argument 

 in favour of the scheme for obtaining an approximate 

 census of our territorial waters, which I suggest further 

 on in this Report (see p. 14). 



The rest of Mr. Johnstone's time — in addition to helping 

 me with general work, correspondence, the examination of 

 any specimens that arrive, the preparation of " memo- 



