362 A. Winchell on the Taconic Question. 
base, according to the American expression. It was still with- 
out any characteristic fauna. But in 1844, ^''- Emmons having 
discovered in this formation fossils before unknown, his Taconic 
system for him represented the palceozoic base. 
" This expression, used on the other side of the Atlantic, is 
evidently equivalent to that of "primordial fauna,' which I 
have applied to the trilobitic group, the oldest of Bohemia, de- 
fined for the first time in my JVotice preliminairc, in 1846. It 
is known that the Liiigulce which characterize the horizon of 
Lingula flags in Wales, that is, the Cambrian region of Eng- 
land, were only discovered by Mr. Davis in 1S45 [Siluria, 2d 
ed. p. 43, 1S59.] 
" In comparing these dates, it is clear that Dr. Emmons had 
first announced the existence of a fauna anterior to that which 
had been established in the 'Silurian System' as characterizing 
the Lower Silurian division, and which I have named second 
fauna. It is then just to recognize this priority, and I think it 
all the more fitting to state it at this time, that it has not been 
claimed to this day." ' 
I agree with Marcou that " it is evident that if Barrande had 
seen the memoirs of Emmons when they appeared, he would 
have used the name " Taconic" to designate all that lower part 
of the most ancient strata of Bohemia which, having nothing 
better, he called Divisions A, B, and C of the Lower Silurian.- 
The other judge whom I desire to cite is M. Dewalque, the 
general secretary of the committee on uniformity of nomen- 
clature. At the meeting of the International Congress at Ber- 
lin, in 1885, after giving the opinions of various national com- 
mittees in reference to the classification of the lowest Palaeozoic 
rocks, M Dewalque said : 
" Since the receipt of the re2:)orts of the national committees, 
the question to be decided has become complicated. M. Jules 
Marcou, in an important work published by the American 
Academy of Science and Arts, and entitled " The Taconic 
System and its position in Stratigrapic Geology., " has vindi- 
^ Documeiis ancicns ct noirceaux stir la Fatinc frimordiale et le Systeme 
Taconique en Ameriqnc. Bull. Soc. geologique de France, 2 ser., torn., 
xvii, p. 225. 1861. 
" Proceedings Amer. Acad., xii, 252, 1SS5. 
