342 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



were carried out of the Bay entirely and were found at 

 Drigg, on the Cumberland coast. Others went over to 

 Grange, and, no doubt, after oscillating for some time on 

 the ebb and flood would ultimately leave Morecambe Bay. 

 Whatever way the sewage finally went, the dilution in 

 Heysham Lake and the Lune would be enormous. Com- 

 parative analyses of the sea-water on the ebb and flood 

 would show, I think, that sewage bacteria though found 

 in the ebb, in the Morecambe Channels, would be absent, 

 or at least very few, in the ensuing flood. It was intended 

 to make these analyses, but the work was too extensive in 

 scope to be undertaken at the time. Such comparative 

 determinations of the numbers of bacilli in sea-water have 

 been made in various places, as, for instance, in the 

 estuary of the Thames and in Kiel Harbour, and the 

 results are both interesting and practically important. 



Bacteriological Analyses. 



On the occasion of our first visit six samples were 

 collected. Two were taken from near the main sewer 

 outfall, two from Baiting Knot, and two from King-Hole. 

 All the samples, with one exception from the top of 

 Baiting Knot, were raked by Mr. Ed. Gardner by means 

 of the " long craam." In each sampling several drags 

 were made, and the total sample was mixed and about a 

 dozen mussels put into a sterilised tin. The tins were 

 placed in ice until the analysis was made (some twelve 

 hours afterwards). Four mussels were then selected at 

 random from each sample--24 in all, and about -^ cc. of 

 the stomach contents of each was plated on neutral-red, 

 bile-salt, lactose agar (Griinbaum's medium). After 48 

 hours' incubation at 42°C. the plates were examined. 

 Each alternate mussel was also examined for the presence 

 of anaerobic spore-bearing bacilli. 



