568 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— D. E. 



Prof. L. A. L. King and the Clyde Fauna Committee. — The Clyde Fauna 

 Catalogue. 



Miss P. M. Jenkin. — An Apparatus for collecting Freshwater Plankton. 

 {The Jenkin Self-closing Townet.) 



Dr. M. Grabham. — Food Fishes of Madeira. 



Miss A. Bidder. — Embryology of Loligo and Sepia. 



SECTION E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



(For reference to the publication elsewhere of communications entered in the 

 following list of transactions, see p. 685.) 



Thursday, September 6. 



Prof- P. M. RoXBY. — Denmark : a Geographical Study. 



Mr. A. G. Oqilvie. — The Region of New York City. 



New York gained her pre-eminence among American cities about 1790, and has 

 held it since then because of the geographical position of the city at the entrance to 

 the premier route of the Continent. 



Among the geographical factors contributing to the location and growth of New 

 York are : (1) the structure and relief of the section of the Continent between the 

 Atlantic and Lakes Ontario and Erie, and the relation to these of the Hudson-Mohawk 

 valleys ; (2) the meeting at the mouth of the Hudson of areas of three distinct rock 

 types ; (3) the post-glacial submergence, resulting in the penetration of the land by 

 arms of the sea, and leading to-day to the commercial development of 125 miles 

 of waterfront in the port ; (4) an ' east-coast ' climate that is not so severe as to close 

 the port in winter and is favourable, as compared with the interior, to the growth of 

 vegetables for city consumption ; (5) sources of water supply within a distance of 

 150 miles, adequate for the present city population ; (6) a low tidal range — about 

 5 ft. — permitting easy access to piers at all stages and. since the flowing tide reaches 

 the city round both ends of Long Island, an excess of ebb over flow which helps to 

 clear out the inland waters contaminated by the city ; but this excess is now insufficient 

 for the purpose, and should, perhaps, be augmented by construction of certain tidal 

 gates. 



The actual site of New York is unique owing to the peculiar combination of land 

 and water which form it. But the site has some serious inherent defects in that the 

 Hudson River and the ridge of the palisades are real barriers, the daily surmounting 

 of which by passengers and freight costs much in time and money. While the harbour 

 is magnificent, the port has long suffered from lack of elbow room behind the water 

 front, and the existence of the water barriers in turn has resulted in the appalling over- 

 crowding in Manhattan and the fearsome congestion of transit lines. 



These conditions have aroused the more far-sighted New Yorkers to the imperative 

 need for the construction of a plan to be followed during the next forty j'ears in the 

 further development of city and the port. The Russell Sage Foundation has 

 financed a regional survey and the preparation of a plan of New York which has been 

 carried out by a committee and a staff luider the direction of Mr. Thomas Adams. 

 The volume of their report, which are now appearing, may well form a model for 

 all regional surveyors and planners. For this is the most comprehensive thing of 

 the kind ever attempted. It deals with the whole region in which the citizens live 

 and work, comprising an area of over 5,000 square miles in the States of New York, 

 New Jersey and Connecticut. The plan, which as a whole forms an excellent example 

 of applied geography, economics, sociology and engineering, devises methods by 



