94 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Lancashire mussel beds can provide without diminution, and 

 some means of converting the flesh of mussels into a food 

 commodity ought not to be impracticable. The so-called 

 glycogen, for instance, may possibly be extracted by some 

 fairly simple, large scale process and applied to some useful 

 purpose : so much Mr. Daniels' results seem to indicate. 

 There are, of course, other purely chemical or bio-chemical 

 problems that have arisen in the course of this research, but 

 these must be left for more detailed work. In the meantime, 

 and as a study preliminary to that more detailed work, this 

 research on the seasonal variations in rough chemical com- 

 position is of indispensable value. 



A good deal of histological work, dealing with the mode 

 of distribution of fat and carbohydrate in the various tissues 

 of the mussel, has also been done by Mr. Daniel. Here, again, 

 all the methods given in the text-books and memoirs have had 

 to be tried and varied to suit the particular nature of the 

 tissue substances. Evidently we cannot speak simply about 

 " fat " and " carbohydrate " in " molluscs " and depend upon 

 the application of any general method of fixation and tissue- 

 staining, for it seems probable that the precise chemical nature 

 of these substances may vary from group to group of mollusca 

 and even in the different species. Only in this way can the 

 anomalous results obtained be explained. A great deal of 

 preliminary work has, therefore, had to be done, and the results 

 of this, and further research on the histology and morphology 

 of the mussel, must fall to be recorded in later reports. 



Other lines of work have been touched, but it is, perhaps, 

 unnecessary to make reference to these in the meantime. 

 The past two years have been a period of considerable difficulty, 

 but it is to be hoped that they have also been preliminary to 

 the complete re-development of tbe scientific work of both 

 the Liverpool and Piel Fishery Laboratories. We have many 

 pieces of research in contemplation — some of tbem having a 



