250 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Rock Ferry Mussel Bed. 



The Rock Ferry bed is not of much economic im- 

 portance, but since mussels are occasionally gathered 

 from it and sold as human food it was thought advisable 

 that it should be examined. I did not inspect this area 

 myself, but the late superintendent and Mr. Eccles in- 

 spected it several times, and early in 1903 a sample of 

 mussels, gathered from it by Mr. Eccles, was sent to the 

 Laboratory for analysis. It was evident on inspection 

 that the bed was greatly polluted. Mr. Dawson informed 

 me that the shellfish in one particular place were living 

 in what was practically a pool of sewage. 



The situation of the bed is shown on the sketch 

 chart on page 72. There are two sewers (Nos. 1 

 and 2) near the New Ferry pier, one on each side, and 

 one (No. 3) close to the South end of the mussel bed itself. 

 The latter lies just to the South of the Rock Ferry pier. 

 All these sewers discharge near the limit of low water. 



The first sample of mussels was examined on 

 November 5th, and because of the pressure of other work 

 which could not be postponed a provisional analysis only 

 was made, and this was submitted to the General Purposes 

 Sub-Committee meeting in November, 1903. This 

 analysis showed that the shellfish on this bed were grossly 

 polluted. On 11th Oct., 1904, however, another sample was 

 obtained by Mr. Eccles and sent to me. This sample was 

 obviously taken from a different portion of the bed than 

 that from which the first sample was collected, and the 

 fish did not afford evidence of such a degree of pollution 

 as the first lot. The results of the analysis are: — 



