1867.] 353 [Perry. 



Inasmuch as tliey wore introduced long ago, are simple, short, and 

 convenient, as well as locally descriptive, also as commemorative of 

 the honored dead, I see many good reasons for retaining, and no 

 occasion for discarding them. We need local designations tor the 

 rocks of each typical, as well as for every geological, district. 



Only such organi-sms are mentioned as have a bearing on the ques- 

 tions at issue ; while no special reference is made in what has been 

 presented to the tbssil remains of kindred formations, lying beyond 

 the limits of Vermont; for these, even when of different periods, have 

 been often greatly intermixed, or perhaps all referred pi-oraiscuously 

 to one geological age; and because little or no use could be made of 

 them, in tlie determination of the points before us, without an accu- 

 rate discrimination of the order of succession, and a thorough exhib- 

 ition of the stratlgraphic relations, of the beds in which they occur. 



It has accordingly been the aim, in the remarks which have been 

 made, both to clear away a vast mass of useless matter, and to lead to 

 the recognition of a firm basis on which the geologist may take a 

 secure stand, and thus be prepared for further and more minute ex- 

 aminations of the earlier fossil-bearing strata, as Avell of western 

 Vermont, as of other regions. Consequently, the present essay, 

 which is presented as a slight contribution in tlie form of a fii-st-fruit 

 offerinix, may be regarded as simply introductory to a series of jiapers, 

 designed for some future occasion, on the sedimentary rocks, a synop- 

 sis of which has been given; a series of papers, in which it is proposed 

 to set forth the various points of importance pertaining to each forma- 

 tion ; in which it is the desire to embody a large amount of imu.sed 

 material that has been accumulating for years; and in which I hope 

 to enter more fully into those critical details, always needful no less to 

 a thorough and satisfactory understanding, than to an exhaustive ■ 

 presentation, of a subject at once so intricate, so replete with the 

 charms of novelty, and so intensely fraught with the grandest inter- 

 ests, both scientific and practical. 



Professor Agassiz expressed his pleasure at hearing this 

 able discussion of the subject from one who had examined 

 the localities with the greatest possible care and faithfulness. 

 He reviewed the history of the Taconic system of Professor 

 Emmons, and referred especially to the time when all Amer- 

 ican geologists, with the single exception of the author him- 

 self, believed the views advanced in that work to be utterly 

 untenable. To the plausible argument of his opponents, Dr. 

 Emmons could only answer that time would show the truth 

 of his position, even should he himself not live to see it 



PEOCEEDIXGS B. S. N. H.— VOL. XI. 23 APRIL, 1868. 



