IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
231 
looked upon, so far as indicating their simultaneous origin, only 
as happy accidents. Instead of furnishing proofs of time 
equivalency it suggests for similar faunas merely likeness of 
conditions, irrespective of time. Such faunal facies are only 
biologically representative. They are merely homotaxial. 
In lithological and faunal characters the rocks are so nearly 
alike that it is difficult to fancy that in the Urals one is on the 
opposite side of the earth from our Iowa and Kansas beds. 
Among the pertinent questions regarding the so- called Per- 
mian in this country three are of special prominence. They 
are: (1) Should the Permian be recognized in America? (2) If 
so, what is the taxonomic rank? and (3) what are the upper and 
lower limits of the terrane, so-called? Without going into 
details of these questions it may be suggested: 
First . — That while we have in America a great succession of 
deposits identical in all essential respects to the original Per- 
mian of Russia, the two great basins merely had similar his- 
tories that are not necessarily connected, and probably were 
wholly independent of each other and unrelated; that the 
Russian Permian constitutes a geological province by itself; 
and that therefore the term Permian should not be used as a 
technically exact term in connection with the Mississippi val- 
ley deposits. 
^ /Second.— That Permian as originally proposed applies to a 
provincial series, and according to our usual standard, has at 
best a taxonomic rank below that of system. Also, in view of 
the possible elevation of its subdivisions to the rank of series 
the term will have no position in the scheme of classification. 
It will be, no doubt, eventually dropped altogether, the various 
series belonging to the succession being made a part of the 
Carboniferous system. In this country the same plan has 
already been proposed. 
Third. — That, with the solution given to the second question, 
it is unnecessary to attempt to locate the limits of the so-called 
Permian in this country. The divisional lines of the series 
comprising the beds of the typical American section in Kansas 
are already well defined, with the possible exception of the 
upper member. 
The data upon which these conclusions are based are given 
at length in another place. 
