258 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Early in the year Dr. Sergeant requested me to undertake 

 a bacteriological examination of the mussels from the area 

 in question, and a report was prepared which was sub- 

 mitted to the County Council in April. Professor 

 Delepme of the Owens College, Manchester, also made an 

 examination, both bacteriological and chemical, of the 

 deposits on the banks of the river, samples of soil, water 

 and sewage, and in his report, which was also submitted 

 to the County Council, he came to the conclusion that 

 there was ''clear evidence of fsecal pollution of the banks 

 of the River Lime, between Lancaster and the sea." 



There are two mussel beds at the mouth of the 

 estuary, one at " Crook Shear," about a mile below 

 Grlasson Dock, and another on the opposite bank of the 

 river along the course of the training wall which extends 

 from Bazil Point South towards Sunderland Point. 

 Compared with the great mussel beds in Morecambe Bay 

 neither of these is of much commercial importance, but 

 it appears that the fishermen in the neighbourhood rely 

 on them for at least part of their livelihood during the 

 winter season. Deterioration of these beds is, therefore, 

 a question of some local importance, and in addition, the 

 question of the communication of disease by means of the 

 sale for food of these shellfish is also of great importance. 

 Fourteen sewers, mostly over 12 inches in diameter, 

 discharge sewage in a crude state, from a population of 

 over 42,000 persons residing in the town of Lancaster and 

 adjacent villages. One of these sewers discharges the 

 untreated refuse produced in the Lancaster Infectious 

 Diseases Hospital. 



Two samples of mussels were collected by Mr. J. E. 

 Gee and sent to me on February 10th, 1904. One of 

 these was from Crook Skear and the other was from 

 Bazil Point. They were examined immediately on 



