Nomenclature of Geological Age. 159 



indicates that we are still within the Tertiary Era, and it is 

 difficult to see the necessity for the inti'oduction of these 

 additions. 



We may now make reference to a Table of the Geological 

 Record of the succession of strata as follows : — 



Now how far does adherence to such a Table go. Geikie 

 remarks^ — " By common consent it is admitted that names 

 taken from the region where a formation or group of rocks is 

 typically developed, are best adapted for general use. Cambrian, 

 Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Jurassic, are of this class, and 

 have been adopted all over the globe." 



We find, however, quite a number of additional terms which do 

 not always mean what one would expect from the composition of 

 the term, hence there are different interpretations by various 

 authors, and as a consequence considerable confusion. In the 

 Cainozoic or Tertiary there is not as a rule much confusion. The 

 introduction and use of Oligocene for certain Victorian deposits 

 without proper explanation of the evidence for its use has had 

 peculiar results, for notice the interpretation of our geology even 

 by such a master as Sir Archibald Geikie.'- The use of this term 

 has also led the officers of the Geological Survey of Victoria into 

 errors which might otherwise have been avoided, for it has been 

 shown on indisputable stratigraphical and palaeontological 



1 Text Book of Geology, 3rd ed., p. 679. 



2 Loc. cit., pp. 982, 983, compare with p. 1003. 



