468 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



shaded part of the foreshore between the Thornton Road 

 and Bare outfalls. There is also good mussel ground at 

 " Stone Skear," which lies towards the other side of the 

 channel, between the Thornton Road outfall and the 

 Central Pier. There are patches of mussel-bearing 

 ground on the rising ground, or brow, between the 

 Central Pier and the Old Harbour, and between the 

 latter and the West End Pier ; probably there are smaller 

 patches of mussel ground elsewhere. These latter 

 places, however, are not fished by the regular musselers, 

 and are only exploited by reckless visitors, and some- 

 times by the unemployed and shiftless elements of the 

 Lancaster population. One or two other smaller mussel 

 beds are not shown on the chart, " Walmsley " deep- 

 water skear, for instance. This is shown in the 1906 

 chart. 



The most important mussel grounds are those on the 

 skears below the main sewer outfall. These skears are : 

 "Old Skear," " Knott-End," " Cockup," "Little-out," 

 "Great-out," and " Bankside." There are channels, or 

 " Gunnells," between some of these skears, and on the 

 bottom of these gunnells mussels may be found. It has 

 been suggested that small mussels, from the higher parts 

 of the skears, might be transplanted into these gunnells, 

 and the suggestion seems to me to be an admirable one. 



The position of the principal sandbanks and 

 channels is, as I have said, only indicated roughly on 

 the sketch chart. These banks and channels are not 

 accurately represented in any chart published, and they 

 ought, of course, to be properly surveyed, in the interests 

 of such an enquiry as this. It was, however, quite out 

 of the question that we could attempt this in the limited 

 time at our disposal. It is a suggestion that I commend 

 to the Local Authority or the Scientific Sub-Committee. 



