406 The American Geologist. December, i897 
calities in the typical Taeonic area, in a formation 14,000 feet 
in tiiickness. In connection with this analysis it was shown 
that many ranges, and hills somewhat isolated from the main 
range, were to be included in the Taeonic range and that 
these had not yet been examined; and hence that it was too 
broad an inference from a slight examination to exclude the 
Taeonic system from the region. This was written on th« 
assumption that Mr. Walcott knew what and where the Ta- 
eonic range of mountains was. But it appears that he spoke 
inadvertently, or that he actually did not know where the Ta- 
eonic mountains lie. 
On further examination by the writer into the literature of 
the Taeonic mountains, this great mistake, so lamentable in 
its immediate results, was discovered and he called attention 
to the subject in an editorial in tlie Geot.ogist, of which the 
following is a copy:* 
What Constitutes the Taconic Range of Mountains. 
Dr. Asa Fitch describes the Taconic mouutains in the following 
words: Runs along the east line of this county, immediately on the 
Vermont side of that line. From Mt. Anthony in Bennington, it passes 
through Spruce (or West) mouutaiu, Red, Equinox, Bear, Antonio, Ru- 
pert and Pawiet (two names given to one long mountain) to Haystack 
east of Granville village. (Historical, topographical and Agricultu- 
ral survey OF the county of Washington, 1849, p. 936.) 
Prof. J. D. Dana describes the Taconic range of mountains in the 
following words, so far as they exist in Vermont: This great slate belt 
extends from Weybridge on the north to the southwestern corner of the 
state, widening southward and spreading into the state of New York. 
The part south of Brandon has been called the Taeonic range of moun- 
tains, it being properly a continuation of the Taconic range of Massa- 
chusetts. [Am. Jour, Sci. (3) XIII, 336, 1877.] 
Geologically these hills consist, according to Mr. C. D. Walcott's ge- 
ological map of the Taconic region, of "Cambrian" formations, /. e. of 
Taconic or primordial strata. [See his map accompanying his papers on 
The Taconic system of Emmons and the use of the name Taconic in 
GEOLOGIC nomenclature. Am. Jour. Sci. (3) XXXV.] He also says: 
Fossils occur more or less abundantly at over 100 localities as now 
known to me within the typical Taconic area, and they are distributed 
at various horizons throughout the 14,000 feet or more of strata referred 
to this terrane. [Am. Jour. Sci. (3) XXXV, 2i2.] 
This is a direct and complete verification of the claims of Dr. Emmons 
in the establishment of the Taconic system on the rocks of the Taconic 
mountains. 
*Am. Geologist, vol vi, p. 274. 
