SRA- FISHERTES LABORATORY. 79 
Ib., and that has been the ainount charged by the fishmongers 
in Barrow. The selling price prior to the fixed maximum 
was44d.perlb. Thevalueofthesprats caught during February, 
1918, according to the monthly returns of Sea Fisheries, England 
and Wales, published by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 
was at the rate of 14d. per lb. The value during the corres- 
ponding period in 1917 was at the rate of 1d. per lb., and the 
retail price to the public m Barrow at the same time 
was 4d. perlb. The fixing of a maximum price for sprats seems 
so far to have added 4d. per lb. to the income of the fishermen, 
for which the public pay 2d. 
Samples of the catches were sent fortnightly by Mr. Edward 
Gardner for examination while the fishery lasted. Owing to 
unavoidable postal delays, they were not always in good 
condition when received. The size of the fish varied from 145 
millimetres long to 95 millimetreslong. At the end of February 
the reproductive organs of fully 80%, of the fish were nearly 
mature. 
V. Barrow CHANNEL MUSSELS. 
The Head Scar mussel bed in this channel was rather ex- 
tensively exploited for a time by the local fishermen. The 
Medical Officer for Barrow eventually prohibited the sale in 
the local shops on the ground that they were unfit for food. 
He also notified the Medical Officer of other inland towns that 
mussels from Barrow should be regarded with suspicion and 
not used for food. This immediately put a stop to the trade, 
and no more mussels have been removed from the scar. The 
head scar is one of the beds which the late Dr. Bulstrode in his 
report ‘“ On Shellfish other than Oysters in relation to disease ” 
(Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Local Government Board 
_ 1909-10) regarded as seriously exposed to the risk of sewage 
contamination. The population of Barrow and Dalton at the 
