146 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



SEASONAL CHANGES IN THE CHEMICAL 

 COMPOSITION OF THE MUSSEL (MYTILUS EDULIS). 



By R. J. Daniel, B.Sc. 

 Introduction. 



The paper is a preliminary notice of an investigation, at 

 present incomplete, into the seasonal variations in the com- 

 position of flesh of the common mussel (Mytihis edulis) from 

 samples obtained on the mussel-beds of Morecambe, Lanca- 

 shire. Since the methods of dealing with the samples obtained 

 are all-important in such work, it is this aspect which is dealt 

 with below. It is intended in the full report to include also 

 an account of the structure of the mussel. Although much 

 work has been done in this direction, notably by Sabatier* on 

 Mytilus ed.idis itself, and by Listt on closely-allied species, 

 there seems room for a further description of this mollusc. 



The positions of the Morecambe mussel-beds are well 

 shown in Chart II, Report of the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries 

 Laboratory, 1912, as they were then. With one exception 

 the samples have been obtained from an area surrounding the 

 two " gunnels," or channels, which connect the Grange Channel 

 with Hey sham Lake ; it is mainly from these skears that 

 mussels are consigned for food, several of the samples dealt with 

 being taken from bags already packed for sale. 



The importance of this fishery at Morecambe may be 

 shown by the fact that during the years 1900-1904, 7,838 tons 

 of mussels were removed from the beds, the value yielded in 

 any one year amounting to as much as £2,000. 



The first sample was received on May 21st, 1920, and 

 since then other samples have been forwarded at intervals 

 of approximately three weeks, by Mr. Edward Gardner, 

 Honorar} T Bailiff to the Lancashire and Western Sea-Fisheries 

 Committee, to whose kindly assistance I am greatly indebted. 

 The samples vary from 16-39 mussels, and are always 



* Sabatier, Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 1877, Series 6, v., page 1. 

 t List, " Die Mytiliden " Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel, xxvii, 

 1902. 



