168 The American Geologist. September, 1897 
Mississippi valle}' first began to receive attention its fossils 
have attracted as much notice as those from any of the asso- 
ciated strata. Notwithstanding this fact the geological age 
of the beds composing the Kinderhook was the subject of con- 
siderable discussion until finally Meek and Worthen* set forth 
their evidence in support of its being Carboniferous in age. 
Their conclusions have been generally adopted. The subject, 
however, has been considered anew in the recent reportsf of 
the Iowa and Missouri geological surveys. The main facts so 
far as they bear upon the theme in hand, are essentially as 
follows: Although for many years past the Kinderhook beds 
have been regarded as the base of the Lower Carboniferous, 
or Mississippian series, a decided Devonian facies of the con- 
tained fossils has always been observed. This peculiar aspect 
has occasioned much comment. So much were some of the 
earlier geologists impressed with this character of the organic 
remains, that they hesitated but little in referring the beds in 
question to the upper Devonian. 
Owen, J who was the first to give attention to the geological 
details of the rocks as exposed along the Mississippi above 
the mouth of the Missouri river, limited the term "Subcarbon- 
iferous," which hitherto had long been applied to all the stra- 
ta below the Coal Measures as far down as the Hudson River 
shales, to those strata which are known as the basal stage of 
the Mississippian series. The Louisiana, or Lithographic 
limestone was not, however, included, for his "argillaceous 
marlites'" was manifestly his lowest member of the series. 
Swallow, § Hall II and White,^ who were well acquainted with 
the rock section and its fossils, correlated the beds immedi- 
ately below the Burlington limestone with the Chemung (De- 
vonian). In northeastern Missouri and adjoining portions of 
Iowa and Illinois, the "Chemung" includes the Chouteau 
limestone, the Vermicular shales and the Lithographic lime- 
stone. Hall, who had studied more particularly in Iowa, erro- 
*Amer. Jour. Sci. (2), vol. xxxii, p. 167, 1861. 
tlovva Geol. Sur., vol. i, pp. 51-53, 1893; and Missouri Geo!. Sur., vol. 
IV, pp. 52-55, 1894. 
JU. S. Geol. Sur. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, p. 92, 1852. 
§Geol. Surv. Missouri, Ann. Rep., p. 101, 1855. 
liGeol. Iowa, vol. i, p. PP, 1858. 
IjProc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. viii, p. 289, 1862. 
