REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 369 



On the Marsh. 



The salt marsh lying within the limits of the City of Newark 

 covers an area of about 3,500 acres ; beginning on the Passaic 

 River at a point about one and one-half miles east of the Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad crossing, and extending southwesterly to the 

 mouth of Bound Creek where it empties into Newark Bay. 

 Bound Creek is the dividing line between Newark and Elizabeth, 

 air to the south of the creek belonging to the latter city. This 

 gives a length of approximately eight miles and an extreme 

 width of nearly three miles, though the wadth varies continually 

 owing to the irregularities of both the coast and the highland 

 line. This marsh area has been under observation since 1902 

 and we estimated that some 500 acres of it was mosquito breed- 

 ing area of the most virulent type. 



The marsh is cut into sections by railroads and creeks which 

 materially influence drainage. The Newark and Elizabeth line 

 of the Central Railroad runs from its point of divergence from 

 the New York line lengthwise through the marsh from northeast 

 to southwest on a solid roadbed which completely cuts the drain- 

 age of the western half of the marsh from the river and bay. 

 The line is cut only at the Peddie Street sewer, Maple Creek and 

 Bound Creek, and all the surface and other waters of the areas 

 west of this road must find their way to the bay by means of 

 these three streams. The Newark and New York branch of the 

 Central Railroad crosses the marsh on a solid embankment at 

 nearly its narrowest point about a mile south of the northern 

 border. The Lehigh Valley Railroad freight line crosses the 

 marsh in the same way, also on a solid embankment about two 

 and one-half or three miles south of the northern border of the 

 marsh. Nearly a mile south of that the Peddie Street sewer 

 crosses the marsh in a straight line of about three miles from 

 city to bay. This sewer is nearly or quite twenty feet wide and 

 has banks from three to four feet above the ordinary marsh 

 level. The whole area was tramped again and again by Mr. 

 Brehme, and I made numerous visits to it myself to verify Mr. 

 Brehme's observations. Nevertheless the following is based al- 

 most entirely upon Mr. Brehme's report. 



The area that lies between the north end of the marsh and the 

 Plank road was closely inspected in 1903 and one small breeding 

 area was found and marked. In the spring of 1904 it was found 

 that this area had become overgrown with cat-tails which were 

 so dense at the time of inspection that no mosquito larvae could 



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