486 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



accumulations of putrefying matter in the mud and sand, 

 and even as far down as the sands near Crook Shear. 

 The evidence of the fishermen is that this is affecting the 

 fisheries, not only for salmon, but even for sea-fish, and 

 the agitation for a proper system of sewerage for the town 

 of Lancaster has never ceased since I first visited this 

 Estuary in 1904. I have no doubt that the pollution is 

 now greater than it was in 1904, and must, of course, 

 continue to become greater. 



Considering everything, it cannot be concluded that 

 the condition of the Lune mussels is satisfactory, and the 

 proper "administrative practical and legislative" 

 conclusion seems to be this — that these shell-fish cannot 

 be regarded as unobjectionable articles of food. 



3. The Morecambe Mussel Beds. 



Various questions arise in connection with these 

 beds: — (1) the actual conditions; (2) the bacteriological 

 results ; (3) the improvements contemplated, or actually 

 carried out by the local authority; and (4) the local 

 administration. 



There are mussel-bearing patches of foreshore and 

 skear ground in fairly close proximity to some of the 

 sewers. Thus there are mussels on the foreshore at Bare 

 Ayre Point, and on the foreshore in front of the town of 

 Morecambe between the piers. When I reported in 1906 

 there were also mussels on Seldom Seen and Reap Shears, 

 very near to the main sewer outfall, at Baiting Knot, and 

 in Ring Hole itself. At the present time there are no 

 mussels — or at least so few as not to encourage a regular 

 fishery — on Seldom Seen and Reap Shears, in Ring Hole, 

 on Baiting Knot, and on Little Skears. Obviously, 

 mussels in Ring Hole, at Seldom Seen and Reap Skears, 

 and on the foreshore between the piers ought never to be 



