SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 491 



remedy is clear : they can be dealt with under powers 

 already possessed by the Fisheries Committee. 



The analyses made by me in 1911 (see p. 480) 

 show clearly that the mussels are not contaminated to a 

 significant extent. Indeed the contamination in the case 

 of the Wyre and Wardley's mussels was less than that 

 found in any other case, with the exception of the 

 Poosebeck mussels in June, 1912. In November of 1912, 

 however, I repeated these analyses and found that the 

 contamination was considerably greater. This can be 

 explained in various ways : either the storm overflow at 

 Fleetwood had been in operation, or the heavy rains of 

 the weeks preceding my visit had washed down matter 

 from the cultivated land on either side of the Estuary. 

 In either case the pollution would be of far less conse- 

 quence than that proceeding directly from domestic 

 sewage. 



So far as I know, there is no epidemiological evidence 

 of the transmission of disease by these mussels. In these 

 circumstances, and considering the natural conditions 

 and sewerage of the district, I have no hesitation in 

 describing the Wyre mussels as clean. This is also the 

 conclusion arrived at by Prof. Klein in 1903 after 

 examining samples of oysters from Sir Charles Petrie's 

 layings and mussels from the Estuary. In both cases 

 "traces of pollution" were detected, but it was pointed 

 out that the completion of the Corporation's new sewer 

 outfall at Rossall Point would, "when completed, 

 remove any danger of pollution." It is true that 

 Professor Klein in 1912, after this outfall had been 

 completed, found that the Wyre mussels were unclean, 

 a result which I find difficult to understand. 



