242 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The cockle beds in the whole district may be conven- 
iently grouped into three principal divisions. At the most 
northern limit is the estuary of the Duddon, practically 
the whole of which is occupied by cockle beds. Then 
comes Morecambe Bay, the whole northern part of which 
is scattered over with cockle beds. On the western side 
of the Bay are the important Baicliff and Bardsea beds, 
and towards the eastward side are the Bolton-le-Sands 
beds. Between these, and reaching southward as far as 
Yeoman Wharf is a large stretch of sands over the whole 
of which cockle beds are found and regularly fished. The 
chart shows some coloured areas on the southern side of 
the Bay, but there the cockle fishery is very irregular. 
‘The Morecambe Bay and Duddon beds Ce form the 
Northern Division. | 
Between Rossall Point and Blackpool ihe coast 1s too 
exposed to admit of the formation of profitable cockle beds, 
but from Southshore to Southport is the estuary of the 
Ribble, containing some very important beds. The most 
northern of these, the Crusader Bank, is of little value, 
but the Salthouse and Horse Banks, lying further south, 
are very valuable, as a glance at Table I. will show. Those 
banks form the Central Division. 
From Southport to below Formby Point is the second 
barren portion of the coast. Here cockles are to be found, 
but not in such quantities as to render the beds of any 
commercial value. South of Formby Point is a narrow 
strip of from two to three miles in length—Formby Bank— 
-where cockles are very abundant. There are several im- 
portant beds on the Cheshire Coast. The Formby, Lea- 
-sowe, Hoylake, and West Hoyle beds are referred to 
hereafter as forming the Southern Division. There are 
also a number of areas’ containing cockle beds in the 
