5 



account of the injury done to young flat-fish; and the 

 practicability of artificial Shrimp culture in enclosed areas. 



(3.) Various questions in connection with the Mussel 

 (My til us edulis) and the Cockle (Gardium edule), and the 

 practicability of mussel-culture on various parts of our 

 shores. 



Some of these, and various other matters connected 

 with our fisheries, have been taken in hand during the 

 summer and autumn, and a number of statistics and 

 observations (dealing with over three thousand fish) have 

 been recorded, in some cases leading to definite conclusions, 

 in others still requiring further work. The subjects will 

 be dealt with separately below. 



The District, and its Physical Conditions. 

 The district under the control of the Sea-Fisheries 

 Committee, and to which our investigations are naturally 

 restricted, is practically the area known to Naturalists as 

 the L.M.B.C. district, and which has been faunistically 

 investigated for some years back by the Liverpool Marine 

 Biology Committee. It is the south eastern half of the 

 Irish Sea bounding the Lancashire and Cheshire coastsfrom 

 Haverigg Point southwards to the North Coast of Wales 

 (see PI. III.), measuring about 50 miles in length and 

 40 miles in breadth, to the Isle of Man. In no part of the 

 district is the sea of any great depth, as the deep-water 

 depression which connects the Clyde district deep-water 

 area with the ocean by means of St. George's Channel 

 runs at the other (western) side of the Isle of Man. In no 

 part between Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Isle of Man 

 is a greater depth than 28 fins, found, and over the 

 greater part of the area the soundings are from 10 to 20 

 fms. (see contour lines on PI. III.). Along the greater 

 part of the coast (including practically all Lancashire and 



