136 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
SHELL-FISH AND SEWAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 
By James JoHNSTONE, D.Sc. 
It has been necessary to spend considerable time during 
the last year in investigating the shell-fish beds in various 
parts of the District. These inspections and analyses were 
made with reference to the mussel beds in the Estuaries at 
Aberdovey, Barmouth, Portmadoc, the Lune, and the Estuary 
of the Ribble. Visits were made to these places, and various 
series of analyses of shell-fish and water were made in reference 
to each area. Sites for the establishment of cleansing tanks, &c. 
were decided upon in the cases of the Aberdovey and Barmouth 
areas, and suggestions for the construction of the tanks were 
made for the guidance of the Surveyor who designed the 
tanks. Plans were made by the latter and approved (after 
some slight emendations). The Committee have now seen 
these plans. 
It was decided that the conditions at Portmadoc were, 
in the meantime, very unfavourable. It was stated that the 
whole sewage system of this town was likely to be altered, 
and in these circumstances it was felt that it would be pre- 
mature to proceed with any scheme for purifying the mussels. 
Various defects in the existing sewage arrangements 
at Aberdovey and Barmouth have been pointed out, and 
the attention of the local authorities concerned has been 
directed to these. It is hoped that they may be remedied, 
as the complete success of the working of the mussel cleansing © 
tanks may be prejudiced by their continued existence. 
Much time was spent in relation to the investigation 
of suitable places for mussel relaying in the Estuary of the 
Lune. A short account of these investigations is given in 
the following pages. 
