WALcoiT.J PALEONTOLOGY — APPALACHIAN. 149 



Dr. Emmons called them the oldest known fossils in America. In the 

 same work Dr. Emmons described Fucoides rigida, F. jlexuosa, Gordia 

 marina, Diplograptus simplex, and others of Silurian (Ordovician) age 

 that he referred to the Taconic system. 



The second description of fossils was made by Prof. James Hall in 

 the Paleontology of New York, vol. 1, 1847. Under the title " Descrip- 

 tion of fossils of the Hudson River group," the following species were 

 described as new : Orbicula ccelata (p. 290), Orbicula ? crassa (p. 290), 

 Avicula f desquamata (p. 292), Theca ? triangularis (p. 313), Metoptoma f 

 rugosa (p. 306), Palwophycus virgatus (p. 263), and Agnostus lobatus (p. 

 258). A description and figures are given of Olenus asaphoides, Em- 

 mons, on pages 256, 257, pi. 67, tigs. 2a-c. In a later publication 1 he 

 'identified Conocephalus and Olenus from the Red Saudrock formation 

 of Highgate, Vermont, but did not assign them to a geologic horizon. 

 In studying a collection sent to him by Rev. Zadock Thompson, Prof. 

 Hall determined and described Olenus thompsoni, 0. vermontana, Peltura 

 (Olenus) holopyga, referring them to the Hudson River group. 2 He 

 supported this reference by the statement that Sir William Logan re- 

 ferred the shales containing the fossils to the upper part of the Hudson 

 River group. In I860 3 he proposed the genus Barrandia, to include 

 Olenus thompsoni and 0. vermontana. The genus Bathyuotus was estab- 

 lished to include Olenus \Peltura) holopyga. In 1861 4 the reference of 

 these trilobites was changed from the Hudson River group to the Quebec 

 group ; and a little later a strong defense was made of the reference of 

 the fossils of the Georgia slates to the Hudson River and Quebec groups 

 the authority of Sir William E. Logan for the stratigraphic position of 

 the rocks being cited. 5 Discovering that the proposed generic name, 

 Barrandia, was preoccupied, he substituted the name Olenellus in 1862. 6 

 This is the first introduction of the name which is now given to the 

 Lower Cambriau fauna. 



The last reference of Prof. Hall to the fauna is the proposal of the 

 genus Disciuella for what he considered to be a small brachiopod, but 

 which investigation proves to be the operculum of Hyolithellus micans. 1 



In notes on the fossils of Washington County, Dr. Asa Fitch 8 de- 



1 Hall, James : Letter on certain fossils of the red sandrock of Highgate. 3d Annual Report on tli e 

 Geology of the State of Vermont. Burlington, 1847, p. 31. 



* Remarks upon the trilobites of the shales of the Hudson River group. Paleontology of New York, 

 vol. 3, supplement to vol. 1, 1859, pp. 525-529. 



3 Note upon the trilobites of the shales of the Quebec group in the town of Georgia, Vermont. 

 13th Annual Report State Cab. Nat. Hist., 1860, pp. 113-119. Report upon the geology of Vermont, vol. 

 1, 1861, pp. 367-372. 



4 II all, James ; Correction for the 13th Ann. Rep. 14th Ann. Rep. State Cab. Nat. Hist., 1861, p. 110. 

 6 Hall, James : Letter on the Primordial of America. Soc. geol. Franco, Bull., 2 e servol. 19, 1862,pp 



725-734. 



6 Supplementary note to 13th Ann. Rep. State Cab. Nat. Hist. N. V. 15th Ann. Rep. State Cab. Nat. 

 Hist.N Y., 1862, p. 114. 



7 Notes on some new and imperfectly known forms among the brachiopoda, etc. 23d Ann. Rep. N. 

 Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist., 1873, p. 246. 



8 A Historical, Topographical, and Agricultural Survey of the County of Washington. Trans. N. Y. 

 State Agric. Soc. for 1849, 1850. 



