Kdtttiriiil ('niiiiii(-)if. ITi) 
though he is fully prepared to see the earliest vertebrate life cur- 
ried downward through the paliKOzoic rocks far beyond where it 
is now known. But each step in the progress must be taken onlv 
after the most careful and thorough investigation and on the 
most satisfactory evidence. 
In regard to the stratigraphy. Mr. ^^'alcott has apparently ex- 
amined the locality with great care, and has accumulated a large 
mass of evidence. Assuming the correctness of his oljservations 
there appears to be little room for dou))ting his conclusions. No 
ground exists for suspecting an overthrow or inversion of the 
strata, and some of the fossils as named by Mr. Walcott. though 
not exhibited, are of undoubted Ordovician ( lower Silurian) age. 
Such fossils, according to the author, are found Ijoth al)ove and 
below the beds containing the supposed fish remains. It is not 
easy therefore, on the assumption of these facts, to impugn the 
accuracy of the stratigraphical conclusions.* 
But in regard to the palaeontology the evidence is less satis- 
factory. There is no doubt that some of the specimens exceed- 
ingly resemble fish plates, as fish plates occur in the Catskill rocks. 
But it is not to Catskill species that a likeness would be expected, 
but to others more nearly approacliing in tlate the epoch in ques- 
tion. Such species are those composing the genera Fteraspis, 
C^atJiasjns. FaJajdspis, Bijj/asjiis. etc., and to these the fossils 
exhibited by Mr. Walcott bear not the slightest . reseml)lance. 
The plates above mentioned certainly simulate the scutes or 
scales of certain Devonian and later fishes. But we may strongly 
insist on the deceptive nature of such merely external characters 
and ask for other evidence, liefore accepting the ichthyic nature 
of the fossils. 
In this respect Mr. Walcott s paper was disappointing, inas- 
much as it contained no proof of his proposition that these 
plates are the remains of fish. We must, however, await the ap- 
pearance of his memoir before coming to a decision on the ques- 
tion. But it would have lieen more satisfactory to the pahe-ich- 
thvolosist had he learned at least the iKifio-f of the evidence. 
*The pahpontologist will feel some surprise at finding Half/sites cote- 
nvldtiin mentioned amono; this fauna. Though this species has been 
reported from the Lower llelderherg ( see p. 7 of the 2nd. Geol. Sur. of 
l*a.) yet its occurrence so low as the Trenton is scarcely less surprising 
than tlie presence of fish. 
