A LIMNOLOGICAI, STUDY OF THE FINGER EAKES. 
537 
spring and liberated in autumn and produces a considerable local effect on the climate. 
The effect is intensified by the narrow valleys with their steep slopes which concentrate 
and localize the influence of the water. Frosts are delayed in autumn, and in spring 
the cold water chills the air of the valleys so that vegetation does not start until the 
danger of killing frosts has passed. The slopes of the lake basins are therefore peculiarly 
well adapted for raising fruit, and many orchards and vineyards are found there. The 
steep shores of Keuka Lake, especially, are covered with vineyards, as thick set as those 
of the Rhine. 
The Finger Lakes comprise a group of ii neighboring lakes, similar in form and 
topographic situation but differing widely in area and depth. Six of them may be 
classed as major lakes and five as minor, although the lakes in each group differ greatly 
from each other. The series offers for study lakes whose range of length is from 5 
kilometers to more than 60 kilometers and whose range in depth is nearly tenfold. Thus 
the series extends from lakes of quite ordinary character to those which are inland lakes 
of the first order in every sense of that term. It is probable that there is no group of 
lakes in the world which offers to the limnologist such opportunities for working out 
the problems of his science. 
Table i gives the general facts of the hydrography for the several lakes and for 
Green Lake, Wis., which is frequently compared with the New York lakes in the dis- 
cussion of temperatures. 
Table I. — Hydrography of the New York Lakes. 
Lakes. 
Elevation 
Len 
gth. 
Breadth 
above sea. 
Maximum. 
Mean. 
Square 
kilo- 
meters. 
Square 
miles. 
Meters. 
Feet. 
Kilo- 
meters. 
Miles. 
Kilo- 
meters. 
Miles. 
Kilo- 
meters. 
Square 
kilo- 
meters. 
Square 
miles. 
Canadice 
31 
12 
333 
1,092 
5.1 
3- 2 
0.62 
o- 39 
0 . 51 
2.6 
I. 0 
Canandaigua 
453 
175 
209 
686 
24.9 
15- 5 
2. 44 
I. 50 
1. 70 
42.3 
16. 3 
Cayuca 
2.106 
813 
116 
381 
61.4 
38. I 
5. 60 
3- 50 
2. 80 
172. 1 
66 . 4 
Conesus 
231 
89 
249 
818 
12.6 
7.8 
1.34 
■ 83 
1. 06 
13.4 
5- 2 
Hemlock 
111 
43 
273 
896 
10.8 
6 . 7 
.80 
* 50 
.70 
7.2 
2.8 
Keuka 
484 
187 
216 
709 
31.6 
19. 6 
3.32 
2. 06 
1. 15 
47.0 
18. I 
Otisco 
88 
34 
239 
784 
8.7 
5-4 
1. 22 
. 76 
.89 
7.6 
2. 9 
Owasco 
539 
208 
217 
710 
17.9 
II. I 
2. 10 
I. 30 
1. 49 
26.7 
10.3 
Seneca 
1.831 
707 
135 
444 
56.6 
35- 1 
5. 20 
3 - 25 
3.10 
175.4 
67. 7 
Skaneateles 
189 
73 
264 
867 
24.2 
15-0 
2. 35 
I. 46 
1. 48 
35.9 
13 - 9 
Green (Wis.) 
246 
95 
275 
902 
11.9 
7-4 
3. 22 
2. 00 
2. 50 
29.7 
ii'5 
Lakes. 
Depth. 
Dm. 
Volume. 
Mean slope. 
Development. 
Maximum. 
Mean. 
Dmx. 
Shore. 
Volume. 
M illion 
cubic 
Million 
Per 
Meters. 
Feet. 
Meters. 
meters. 
cubic feet. 
cent. 
'' 
* 
Canadice 
25.4 
83 
16.4 
0.65 
42.6 
i>503 
6.2 
3 
33 
2 . 05 
U 04 
Canandaigua 
83.5 
274 
38.8 
.46 
1,640. 1 
57.897 
7.0 
4 
0 
2. 48 
^■39 
Cayuga 
132.6 
435 
54.5 
.41 
9,379.4 
331,080 
5.2 
2 
58 
3^35 
/. 23 
18.0 
27.5 
Keuka 
55.8 
30.5 
•55 
1,433.7 
50,610 
7.8 
4 
28 
4^58 
1.64 
Otisco 
20. 1 
66 
10.2 
• 5 t 
77.8 
2,746 
2.3 
1 
21 
2. 04 
r .52 
Owasco 
54.0 
177 
29.3 
■54 
780.7 
27,578 
4.4 
2 
31 
2. 27 
z . 63 
Seneca 
188.4 
618 
88.6 
■47 
15, 539. 5 
548, 544 
9.0 
5 
08 
2. 74 
I. 41 
Skaneateles 
90.5 
297 
43. 5 
.48 
1,562.8 
55. 151 
8.4 
4 
48 
2. 4S 
1.44 
Green (Wis.) 
72.2 
237 
33. 1 
.46 
984.8 
34-751 
5.4 
3 
06 
1.78 
1^38 
