250 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
used to remove the upper layer of sand to the depth of 
about an inch and half. The cockles occupy this layer 
and are thus exposed. The use of a spade is not 
permitted in the other parts of the district. Southward 
of ‘‘ Rossall Landmark,” near Fleetwood, that is, over the 
whole of the Central and Southern Divisions, the use of 
the cockle rake is permissible; the cockle rake does not 
differ greatly from the ordinary garden rake, but may not 
exceed 12 inches in length. Thus, in the Northern Divi- 
sion the craam and the limited use of the Jumbo are 
permitted; in the Central Division the craam, Jumbo, 
rake, and spade; in the Southern Division the craam, 
Jumbo, and rake. Practically all the fishing in the 
Southern Division is done by the rake. | 
A minimum size, below which a cockle is not legally 
saleable, is fixed by the Committee’s Bye-law, and extends 
to all parts of the district. This minimum size is that 
of a cockle which will exactly fit into a rectangular 
opening in the ‘‘ gauge’’ carried by the fishery officer. 
This opening 1s two inches in length, and three-quarters 
of an inch in breadth; the ratio of length to lateral 
breadth in the cockle is, of course, variable within certain 
limits, and the smallest legal-sized cockle may be defined 
as the cockle whose lateral breadth, from valve to valve, 
when the shell is closed, is just over three-quarters of an 
inch. This standard of size is, of course, a purely arbi- 
trary one, and has no definite relation to any particular 
phase in the life-history of the animal: the cockle becomes 
sexually mature before it has attained this size, and pro- 
bably has spawned once. It most probably represents the 
size of the animal which is over two and less than three 
years of age. But the rate of growth of the cockle 
certainly differs, probably to a considerable extent, on 
various parts of the Lancashire and Cheshire coasts. On 
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