193 



liad ci(:curi(Ml in tlie lower ihird of tlic sewer uikI, us it was 

 impossible to clear the pipe, the latter had been eiit : it 

 was, however, still found impossible to remove the block, 

 and a further cnt was made in the pipe about 500 to 600 

 yai'ds from the on i fall. TJie enide sewaGfc was, therefore, 

 flowin<>' from this latlei' break in Ihe pipe ai the time when 

 we made our visit. 



The ground round the pipe for the greater part of the 

 length of the laUer consists of hard clean sand, which 

 affords no holding for the mussels. But the vertical and 

 liorizontal wooden piles supporting the pipe are covered 

 with a thick growth of the shellfish, and here and there 

 the shellfish were attached to the pipe itself. The mussels 

 are mostly large, well-nourished animals with fairly 

 clean shells. They were gc'nerally well over the gauge 

 size, and, apart from the question of their contamination, 

 appeared very suitable for food or baii. 



riie sample for analysis was collected liy taking one 

 mussel at regular intervals from the vertical piles on the 

 Eastern side of the pipe all the way u]) from the outfall. 

 Those which were collected from the piles in the vicinity 

 of the break in the pipe were kept apart from the others 

 and examined separately. The primary inoculations were 

 made on the morning of the 19tli. The method of analysis 

 was that pi-eviously adopted in similar cases, and consisted 

 in inoculating about 0"1 to 0'25 cc. of the contents of the 

 stomach of each animal on separate plates of neutral-red, 

 bile-salt, lactose agar : and in further testing the colonies 

 formed on this medium for BacUliis coll communis by their 

 reactions on various sugar media. In every case 

 inoculations were also made to determine the presence or 

 absence of the spines of an anaerobic bacillus, presumably 

 Klein's B. entrrifidis sporof/encs. The resnlts were as 

 follows : — 

 N 



