Loicer and Middle Taconic. — Marcon.. 359 
which fossils are extremely rare. Lately, in the Russian Baltic 
province of Esthonia, a well marked fauna — but still a very 
small one— has been found in the uppermost part of those 
strata, and in it the oldest trilobite yet known, not a Paradoxi- 
des, but an old form allied to it. 
During the last forty years announcement of the discoveries 
of fossil remains — generally of doubtful nature — has been 
made, in those inferior strata near their junction with the' 
Primitive rocks. The specimens called Eozoon canadense, 
thanks to the sensational character and desire of notoriety 
manifested by those interested in them, have rapidl}'- become 
celebrated. In 1861, during a visit to the Museum of the 
Geological Survey of Canada at Montreal, the director, Logan, 
showed me a polished specimen of rock, asking my opinion. 
After looking at it carefully I said : "I do not see any organ- 
ism in it; send it to Delesse or any other distinguished lith- 
ologist if you Avant an exact definition." Two j^ears after I 
Avas rather surprised to see that Messrs. Dawson, Carpenter 
and Jones had made it out an organism, under the generic 
name of Eozoon. Directly Eozoon was signalized as existing 
in almost all the crystalline Primitive rocks of Europe and 
America. If truly organic, then we have found a fossil, not 
only in the oldest stratified beds of the Transition strata called 
until then Azoic, but even among the Primitive formations. 
But King and Ptowney in a well digested and very careful 
study, have demonstrated the non-organic character of the 
specimens, and Perry and Burbank in INIassachusetts, and 
professor Mobius in Germany gave a final check to that much 
doubted discovery. 
Dr. Emmons has described in his "Geological Report of the 
Midland counties of North Carolina,"' pp. 61-64, 1856, two 
specimens regarded by him as corals of a lenticular form, 
under the names : Palmotrochis major ^x\d minor. He found 
them in Montgomery county. North Carolina. The organic 
nature of those specimens has been contested; and although 
it is certainly less objectionable than for the Eozoon, it is best 
to wait for more careful studies before giving a final opinion. 
Obscure forms of supposed fucoides and burrows of marine 
worms called Arenicolites and. Scolerites, have been signalized 
and described in those inferior beds of the Transition period 
in Bohemia, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, New- 
