7/. H. Winckell on the 7aconic. 171 
ton counties; and if it were needed it would only be necessary 
to refer to his having placed Bald Mountain,' and jVIt. To- 
by, which are in Washington county, the former the locality 
noted for the first primordial fossil ever discovered and identi- 
fied, within the range of the Taconic. Further, Dr. Emmons 
in refering to the Magnesian slate member of the Taconic, 
says a "range of mountains composed of this slate extends 
along the western border <5i Massachusetts and through Ver- 
mont. It often rises to the bight of 1500 feet. This range 
is known as the Taconic range^ and has furnshed the name 
to the system of rocks I am describing."^ Comparing this state- 
ment with the geological map designed to acompany the vol- 
ume, it will be seen at once that in order to follow the Taconic 
range from the place they are represented into western Ver- 
mont, it must pass through Rensselaer and Washington counties, 
and hence must include l^ald mountain. Therefore the objection 
is baseless, bec.iuse the primordial rocks do occur in at least one 
point in the Taconic range. 
Again, it would be premature to exclude the primordial strata 
from the principal part of the Taconic range — tv'-. those hills 
situated on the boundary line between New York and ]SIassa- 
chusetts. The trend of the discoveries of Mr. Dana and Mr. 
Dwight, it should be admitted, is toward such exclusion ; but 
imtil those hills have been subjected to a searching inspection 
of their structure, no geologist can affirm with safety that no 
primordial rocks occur there. The very fact that here the hills 
rise to greater bight and embrace far more bulk than elsewhere 
indicates some intelruption or irregularity in the strata, and if the 
' The map of Dr. Asa Fitch, accompanying his treatise on Washington 
county in 1849, shows two "Bald" mountains, one in Greenwich and one 
at the N. W. corner of Hebron, but the former is the primordial local- 
ity. This map shows the country mountainous, with low spurs of the 
northern extension of the Taconic hills. 
In the final report on the the Geology of Vermont, \ol. ii, p. S73, is 
a description of the Taconic n^ountains in Vermont in which they aie 
said to run parallel with the Green mountains, and in the southern part 
of the state to be separated into several series that are apparently wholly 
independent of each other, similar to their appearance in Washingtoi> 
county, New York. 
-Agriculture of New York, p. 77. 
