1887.1 343 [Marcou. 



first pair the exact place of none of them is known. All the ribs had to 

 be modelled from fragments of which there are several hundred from 

 ribs from all parts of the body. 



The left fore leg is cast from bones of three individuals which appeared 

 to be of nearly the same size as the type of D. mirabile, and the right 

 fore leg is a reversed copy of it. The right femur is cast from a bone and 

 the left copied from it. Both tibiae are modelled from one from a 

 smaller skeleton, the proportions between the bones having been meas- 

 ured from the specimens belonging to smaller individuals. 



The feet are modelled from a large number of bones, among them a 

 nearly complete hind foot and fore foot of a smaller size than the 

 model. 



The whole model is made of paper cast in plaster moulds. The sup- 

 porting frame is of gas pipe concealed in the model. 



The following paper was read : 



ON THE USE OF THE NAME TACONIC. 



BY JULES MARCOU. 



If priority is to be adhered to strictly and above all other con- 

 siderations, it is in natural history ; for, without it, zoology, bot- 

 any, palaeontology, mineralogy and lithology, would become a 

 confused and almost valueless mass of documents. All savants 

 without regard to nationality, schools, or personal inclination, now 

 place priority first ; and a naturalist who disregards it is sure one 

 clay or another, to be severely judged. Justice requires it, classi- 

 fications require it, museums require it, libraries require it, bibli- 

 ographies require it ; and, finally, progress of science, will be 

 impossible without it. 



Questions of priority are matters of printed facts, and the 

 greater caution and exactness are required to establish them on a 

 solid basis. Often, I will say too often, an author unintentionally 

 and with great honesty of purpose, thinking the matter of little 

 consequence, quotes loosely and out of date, inexact sj 7 nonj T my, 

 or gives precedence to publications and names, which are in fact 

 posterior and consequently placed in wrong positions. 



The memoir of Mr. Walcott, " Second Contribution to the Stud- 

 ies on the Cambrian Faunas of North America" (Bulletin U. S. Geol. 

 Surv., No. 30, Washington, 1886), is too important, and he is too 

 desirous " to establish," as he says, " on a firm stratigraphic and 

 palaeontologic basis, the Cambrian system of the continent," not 



