356 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



particles of quartz and organic matter of various kinds, too 

 small for identification. The latter appears, if anything, to 

 be more abundant in this sample than in X. As before, 

 carbol-gentian violet proves the presence of great quantities of 

 bacterial organisms. 



As to the presence of mud in this locality, it has been 

 known for long that a belt of mud runs Northwards from off 

 Walney Island to the village of Drigg, opposite the Selker Ship. 

 The general run of the tides and currents in this part of the 

 Irish Sea is from South to North. Now, the results of the 

 experiments made some years ago by the Lancashire and 

 Western Sea Fisheries Scientific Staff, with drift bottles, 

 show that the majority of these bottles were returned to 

 the laboratory from the neighbourhood of Duddon Buoy. 

 Few drifted North of this point, although one or two did 

 reach the Solway Firth. It would appear, therefore, that 

 here the current, sweeping up from the South, meets the 

 tide coming down from the North, with the result that 

 about Duddon Buoy a "dead-water" is formed, with the 

 consequent precipitation of the suspended matter. 



I can advance one other argument to prove that along 

 the line of this mud belt there is slack water. When a ship- 

 wreck takes place off the Mersey Bar, the fishermen say that 

 in searching for wreckage and cargo they always make for the 

 neighbourhood of Duddon, as the remains are invariably 

 carried there and are sure to be found floating about over this 

 mud belt. 



XIII. [23a and 23b] 11/6/13. 5 miles W.S.W. of Duddon 

 Buoy. 



Two samples were obtained and examined from this 

 station. They resemble, very closely, those described from 

 mid-way between the Bahama and Selker Ships, and from 

 10 miles W. of Duddon Buoy. They are composed of exactly 



