250 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



again fallen into serious errors. For instance, take the 

 statement (p. lxxxiv) : — 



" The ratio of non-berried females to males points 

 unmistakably to the widespread occurrence of stripping." 



As can easily be proved by a reference to the Board's 

 own figures, it points unmistakably to nothing of the sort. 



The number of non-berried females and males in the 

 Lancashire and Western District is given in Table IX. 

 The next table above is for Cornwall (Table YIII) : — 



Cornwall. 



Lancashire & Western. 





Non-berried 





Non-berried 







Females. 



Males. . 



Females. 



Males. 



Under 9 in 



986 



815 



11 







„ 10 „ 



1,061 



831 



1,643 



1,504 



„ 11 „ 



723 



619 



1,386 



1,337 



» 12 „ 



598 



442 



1,102 J 



1,028 



Over 12 „ 



481 



415 



759 



643 





3,849 



3,122 



4,901 



4,512 



That is to say the ratio of non-berried females to 

 males is in Cornwall 123 '2 : 100, and is in Lancashire 

 and Western 108*6 : 100. 



So that if these figures prove that stripping is 

 prevalent in the Lancashire and Western District, they 

 also prove that stripping is still more prevalent in the 

 Cornwall District, and this is very strange since there is 

 no restriction in Cornwall on the landing of berried 

 lobsters ! 



As a matter of fact, the Lancashire and Western 

 statistics were obtained from two distinct sources, which 

 should have been kept distinct and not lumped together 

 as in Table IX. The statistics from Pwllheli were 

 obtained by our Fisherv officer as a result of measure- 

 ments and determinations of sex of the lobsters landed 

 by the fishermen. Consequently, lobsters under nine 



