234 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Barranile first discovered and showed in Ijohennia the " Colonies " of 

 tlie third fauna in the second fauna. Then I called attention to the 

 " Colonies" of the second fauna in the primordial fauna of the borders 

 of Lake Champlaiu. Ur. E. Kayser has recognized, in the Ilartz and 

 in Nassau, '• Colonies " placed also in limestone lentils of the third or 

 Silurian fauna, in the fourth or Devonian fauna. Prof. II. S. AVilliams 

 has lately found in the State of New York, at Ithaca and Lake Cunau- 

 daigua, a " Colony " of the fifth or Carboniferous fauna in the fourth 

 or Devonian fauna. 



Lastly, in India, New Zealand, California, in the Tithonic, the 

 Rhetic, the Lower Dyas, the Laramie Group, etc., everywhere, at all 

 degrees of the stratigrai)hic scale and in all latitudes, these passages 

 exist; organic beings are mixed in sufficient proportions to connect all 

 the links of the chain, and form a continual series of general evolution. 



The great lines of the stratigraphic series are now distinctly drawn, 

 at least for the northern hemisphere. 



The European geologists have had the honor to recognize and 

 create this ina<rnificent classification in the chronological order of time 

 which has passed since the earth has been inhabited. Upon one point 

 they have been anticipated by their colleagues of America. The first 

 degree of the scale, the most ancient of all the systems, was first recog- 

 nized in the New World. It is only just that this discovery should be 

 registered in the general classification. 



To the European geologists I would say, America occupies a place 

 in the history of gviology which is but little below that occupied by 

 Europe. Every day discoveries of great importance are made in 

 America; and, as Prof. K. A. Zittel of IMnnich has lately said, 

 after a rapid excursion across North America, " The time of great 



discoveries has begun in America ; it is over in P^urope It is 



beyond question that the future development of geology and paheon- 

 tology will be essentially influenced by America." By accepting the 

 " Taconic System " and placing it in the scale of the formations, you 

 will act with graceful courtesy. 



To the American geologists I would say, you have a patriotic duty 

 to fulfil. On your own soil, and by one of you, — an American in the 

 full sense of the term, for Dr. Ebenezer Emmons never even went 

 to Europe, — was found, and described and named for the first time, 

 the primordial fauna and the beds that contain it. By employing the 

 term " Taconic," you defend a right that since Barrande no geologist 

 has disputed. 



Finally, to all my geological fellow-workers, as well American 



