SEA- FISHERIES LABORATORY. 95 



be set up and worked. But there are many other localities, 

 such as at Barmouth and Aberdovey, where we have to do 

 with perhaps the produce of a dozen men at the most. Obviously 

 the cost of putting down purification plant must bear some 

 close relation to the value of the local industry. 



This difficulty seems capable of removal only by centrali- 

 sation of the process of cleansing, or perhaps by the adoption 

 of the process as a commercial, profitable one. There seems 

 no reason why the cleansing of sewage-polluted mussels and 

 other shell-fish should not be undertaken by private persons 

 or companies. 



Diseased Fish Condemned at the Markets. 



Fewer specimens of diseased fish condemned in the fish 

 markets reach the laboratory now, and this is doubtless due 

 to a less rigid inspection than was made before the war. 

 Several instances of malignant tumours — ordinary and 

 melanotic sarcomas, &c, some interesting cases of obscure 

 fungoid infection and some instructive malformations have 

 come to hand and have been investigated. 



A question continually asked in such cases is this — What 

 would happen to a person eating such diseased fish ? It is, 

 of course, impossible to answer such a question satisfactorily 

 except by trying ! In the majority of cases legal proof that 

 the diseased fish in question would be detrimental to the health 

 of the consumer would, I think, be impossible of production. 



As a general rule no evil effects are to be apprehended 

 from the consumption of fish containing nematode, cestode, 

 or trematode worms. A case of a codling having the usually 

 occurring nematode worms in the peritoneum occurred. 

 The fish was prepared for food in a military hospital and was 

 refused alike by the patients and by the staff (who ought to 

 have known better). The parasitic worms that usually occur 



