Nearly all totals given in the following pages have had to be 

 calculated, and the task has been a very laborious one, owing 

 to the way the returns are made up. After two or three days 

 calculation a variation in the manner the return is made up 

 has vitiated the result, and the whole series of calculations 

 has had to be commenced over again. 



For this period (1895-1899) no statistics from the former 

 Western District are available, consequently for all calcula- 

 tions based on a decennial period the Western District has 

 had to be omitted, and returns made for the Lancashire area 

 only (as varied by the Order of the Board of Trade in 1894). 

 It is thought that a comparison of annual figures should be 

 based on at least a decennial period in order to avoid 

 fluctuations due to extraneous influences, such as the weather. 

 It is to be regretted that the Western District returns have 

 been lost. From 1900 to the present time returns are to 

 hand for the following ports in addition to those of the 

 old Lancashire district (1894-1899) : — New Quay (Cardigan), 

 Aberayron and Aberystwyth, Borth and Aberdovey, Pwllheli, 

 Carnarvon, Holyhead, Bangor, and on the same sheet and in 

 juxtaposition Cark and Ulverston ! 



For a time the returns from the Western District 

 (including Cark and Ulverston) are made on a separate sheet ; 

 i.e., the old Lancashire area is kept intact, and consequently 

 there is little difficulty in abstracting the figures for com- 

 parison with the years 1894-1899. An innovation is seen in 

 the case of Cark and Ulverston ; " cockles," we are now told, 

 include mussels and periwinkles. This renders both 

 ''cockle" and "mussel" figures for separate comparison 

 useless for the whole district, at any rate until further 

 information be obtained, if, indeed, it is at all attainable now. 



The cockle statistics will be discussed in greater detail 

 later ; it will perhaps suffice to here refer to a paper by Mr. 

 Johnstone in the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Laboratory Eeport 



