306 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 57 



In view of the fine section east of Waucoba Springs on the north- 

 eastern side of Saline Valley, and the great development of Lower 

 Cambrian strata to the north and east in Nevada, the term Waucoban 

 is selected to replace Georgian as a group name for the formations 

 included in the Lower Cambrian. 



ST. CROIXAN OR UPPER CAMBRIAN ' 



When I proposed the name " Saratogian " in 1903 ' for the Upper 

 Cambrian group of formations, an examination of several lists of 

 geological formation names failed to show that the name Saratoga 

 had been used by Dr. J. C. Branner ' for a Cretaceous chalk marl in 

 Arkansas, in his description of " The Cement Materials of Southwest 

 Arkansas." * A description of the formation is given, with sections 

 illustrating its stratigraphic position. In 1902 ° Mr. J. A. Taff used 

 thtf term Saratoga formation in the same sense as Branner and gave 

 illustrations of sections and contained fossils. 



In view of the prior use of the name Saratoga by Branner and 

 Taff, I doubt the advisability of continuing the use of Saratogan as 

 a group name for the LTpper Cambrian formations. There is also the 

 fact that the two formations of Saratoga County, New York, that are 

 used as the basis for the name, are not typically of Upper Cambrian 

 age. A present tendency is to include them as passage beds between 

 the Cambrian and the superjacent system of strata, or as belonging to 

 the higher systems.' With the evidence now known to me from New 

 York and the Appalachian region to the southwest I am inclined 

 tentatively to refer the fauna as found in New York State to the 

 upper limit of the Cambrian. The " Saratogan " would thus be corre- 

 lated with one of the upper horizons of the " St. Croix sandstone " 

 and included in the Upper Cambrian." 



My present view is that the use of the name Saratoga should be 

 restricted to the Cretaceous formation, another name adopted for the 



^ Ulrich, Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 22, No. 3, 191 1, pi. 27, and pp. 613 

 and 614. 



" Journ. Geol., Chicago, Vol. 11, 1903, pp. 318-319. 



^ Dr. John M. Clarke recently (May 27, 1912) called my attention to this u«e 

 of the name Saratoga by Branner, and wrote that he was then discussing the 

 history of the name in a paper in press. 



* Trans. American Inst. Mining Engineers, Vol. 27, 1898, pp. 52-55. 



^ Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, pp. 714-720. 



" See Ulrich, Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 22, No. 3, 1911, pi. 27, and p. 612. 



' See Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 57. No. 9, 1912, pp. 255, 256, for a fuller 

 discussion of this question. 



