234 Tlie American Geologist. April, i89S 
the typical localities. With these conditions existing it did 
not seem advisable to attempt to retain the term Osage. 
Theoretically the Osage river should cut through the whole 
Lower Carboniferous; in reality it touched only the lower 
portion, no higher than upper part of the Lower Burling- 
ton. To one who had not visited the locality it was safe to 
assume that the full sequence was present; accidental circum- 
stances intervened. It was not feasible either to use the 
term in a sense entirely new from that originally intended, or 
to modify it to such an extent as to make it meet all the ob- 
jections that it presented in its original form. 
On the whole, after the most careful deliberation, it was 
decided that much less confusion would ensue, and the ends 
of geological nomenclature would be better subserved by drop- 
ping the name Osage, and using some other term, especially 
since the subdivision covered by the term Osage and that to 
be called by the new title were not the same. The objections 
urged against the extension of the word Osage for one of the 
main subdivisions of the Mississippian series were as follows: 
1. The lines of demarkation for certain of the principal 
subdivisions of the Mississippian series are not to be drawn at 
the horizons indicated by the name Osage, if the faunal char- 
acters of the sequence are to be taken into consideration, and 
if the most natural divisional planes are to be sought. Were 
it not for this one fact the other objections raised might be 
passed over, and the application of the term extended. The 
most serious stumbling block in the way of the ])roper con- 
sideration of the Mississippian formations has been the War- 
saw, and the general misconception regarding the various 
beds called by this name but belonging to many different hori- 
zons, has done more than any other factor in preventing a 
clear understanding of the Lower Carboniferous stratigraphy 
of this region. 
2. The unfortunate selection of the section to be consid- 
ered the typical one. As a matter of fact it is the most non- 
typical one known. 
3. Only a single one of the si.x distinctive formations 
belonging to the subdivision is present in the vicinity of the 
typical section of the Osage. As already stated, the Lower 
Burlington limestone, and this not fully, appears to be the only 
