62 Personal and Scientific News. 
ers trained by long researches in the field, must always come first ; and 
all the hasty synchronism and equivalency of faunte be carefully 
avoided. A severe control of all the facts by able investigators must 
be resorted to before jumping at conclusions. These remarks are 
more and more necessar}' in order to keep constanth' on our guard 
against the too numerous confusions introduced anomalously as a 
regular crop of errors by the special class of paleontologists. Of course 
paleontologists like Barrande, Emmons, Agassiz, Edward Forbes, 
Alcide d'Orbigny, Deshayes, d'Koninck, de Verneuil, instead of 
introducing errors, have been the originators of great truths, 
and have contributed immensely to the progress of stratigraphy and 
paleontology. In my long experience in both hemispheres I have 
seen several examples of how some paleontologists easily created new 
genera, or identified fossils, straining the plain paleontological evi- 
dence ; and I can not insist too much on putting younger practical 
geologists on their guard not to accept authorities without a severe 
control. 
The last contradiction and confusion has just been called to my 
attention; it is contained in Mr. Walcott's paper: "Stratigraphic 
position of the Olenellus fauna in North America and Europe." 
Corner. /r. Sc, May, 1889, p. 374.) The author says : "The relative 
position of the Middle and Lower Cambrian fauna is now changed, the 
Paradoxides zone being removed to the Middle, and the Olenellus 
zone to the Lower Division ;" a chasse-croisee to which we have been 
accustomed. For Mr. Walcott there is only one horizon of Olenellus 
in Europe and North America, and in his hasty paleontological class- 
ification he had put together all the fossils of the Georgia group with 
those of Manuel brook, Conception bay, Newfoundland, an uncalled 
for confusion, showing how Mr. Walcott differs in his method of deal- 
ing with classification of stratigraphical facts and paleontological 
determination of fossils from Mr. Matliew and myself. I refer to the 
two papers lately issued: "On the classification of the Cambrian 
rocks in Acadia No. 2," by G. F. Mathew; and "Olenellus beds in 
Scandinavia and North Ameiaca" contained in my paper, "Canadian 
classification for the province of Quebec," in which a move in the 
right direction has been fairly started. I hope to be able to publish 
before long a paper on "Olenellus and Paradoxides in both hemi- 
spheres," in which I shall treat at length of the stratigraphy and 
synchronism of the diff"erent groups of the middle Taconic. 
27 May 1SS9, Cambridge, Mass. Jules Marcou. 
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
Dr. T. Sterry Hunt has partially recovered his health ; 
has returned from Florida and is at the home of his friend 
James Douglas at Spuyten Duyvil, N. Y. 
Dr. Persifor Frazer, one of the editors of this journal, 
