A. Wincheli on the Taconic Question. 347 
THE TACONIC QUESTION. 
BY ALEXANDER WINCHELL. 
CONTENTS. 
I. Original proposals of the founder of the Taconic system. 
1. Date of first definition. 
2. Stratigraphical position. 
3. Geographic position and distribution. 
4. Constitution. 
5. Paljeontologic characters. 
6. Original grounds of the Taconic system. 
(i) Lithological. 
(2) iStratigraphic unconformities. 
(3) Palajontologic unconformity. 
7. Central conception of the founder of the Taconic system. 
II. Is there a real sub-Silurian system.'' 
1. Lower limits of the Silurian. 
2. Determinations in America. 
III. Was Dr. Emmons anticipated by other investigators.' 
1. Limits of the Silurian. 
2. Position and rights of the Cambrian. 
3. Stratigraphical relations of the primordial zone of Barrande. 
(i) Primordial fauna unknown to Murchison and 
Sedgwick. 
(2) Primordial fauna embraced by Emmons. 
4. Stratigraphical relations of the Huronian of Logan. 
IV. Validity and scope of the Taconic. 
1. Grounds of opposition to the Taconic. 
(i) Walcott's view. 
(2) Held in the light of Walcott's results. 
2. Defenders of the claims of the Taconic. 
3. Position and equivalences of the Taconic system. 
The following concise statements of the elements of the qties- 
tion concerning the Taconic, may prove helpful to the young 
student who lacks time or opportunity for consultation of the 
original documents. The writer undertook the investigation 
■with complete freedom from bias, save that his patriotism was 
predetermined to claim for American geology all that belongs 
to it. The research is not continued into the later history of Dr. 
Emmons' work in this field, because the validity of the name 
must rest on facts connected with the period of its first proposal. 
