Ii6 The American Geologist. February, i90o 
representing though they do important divisions of time and 
sedimentation, must give way to others of equivalent value 
which shall obviate the duplication and confusion with which 
we are now embarrassed. 
This paper, frankly stated, is a proposition to substitute 
for these terms in their stratigraphic application and hence 
necessarily in their chronologic equivalence, a series of desig- 
nations derived from characteristic localities of the New York 
paleozoic, and thus to preserve, under the necessity of change, 
the eminent title of New York state to its full and ancient rep- 
resentation in the classification of the paleozoic deposits and 
time. 
Incidentally it also takes cognizance of and suggests a suit- 
able remedy for the present incongruity in the nomenclature of 
the stratigraphic units. As the propriety and necessity of lo- 
cal terms for the designation of such units is generally 
acknowledged, those formations which have hitherto borne 
names of other significance are now superseded by appropriate 
geographic names. 
1. Champlainic. This most appropriate designation was intro- 
duced by the concurrence of the four geologists for the formations 
here assigned to it (exclusive of the Potsdam sandstone), and it has 
clear right of way over the later application of the name to the period 
of post-glacial alluvium. That the later term has become ingrained 
in literature renders it all the more conspicuous as an infraction of the 
law and of the rights of the men who first proposed it. In the face of 
Champlain, 1842, the term Ordovician has no standing. 
2. Ontaric. Vanuxem placed the base of the Ontario division at 
the 'gray sandstone,' Hall and Emmons at the Medina, Mather at the 
Shawangunk grit. Vanuxem and Hall terminated the division above 
with the Niagara, Emmons included the Salina and waterlime. Any 
rational grouping of these formations must recognize as its base the 
predominance of coarse sedimentation installing a new cycle. Grow- 
ing evidence fully endorses Emmons' view as to the termination of the 
group and period with the clearing of the Salina sea. 
3. Canadian. This term has the prestige of time and priority. 
4. ]\Iohawkian. Conrad and Vanuxem made use of the term 'Mo- 
hawk limestone' for certain of the calcareous layers beneath the Tren- 
ton, but they differed so widely in their application of the term that in 
the summation of their results, the geologists decided to abandon it. 
The name is here revived with a broader meaning. The valley and 
watersheds of the ^lohawk river afford typical exposures of all mem- 
bers of the group. 
