Reviezv of Recent Geological Literature . 
579 
over 35 years ago, by White, \Vhite and Whitfield, and Winchell. 
paleontologists have been puzzled in regard to identifications. The 
original descriptions were unaccompanied by illustrations. The type 
specimens deposited in the University of Michigan were long inac- 
cessible. Mr. Weller now comes forward and gives us the results of 
his studies of the type specimens, and figures them. Henceforward 
students of the Burlington region will know som.ething of the many 
forms once so puzzling, and will take a new interest in the subject. 
In the second place the paper under consideration touches upon 
an important stratigraphic problem, concerning the delimitation of 
the Devonian and Carboniferous of the region. On this phase of 
the subject the suggestions are timely, as the so-called Kinderhook 
beds have long been debatable ground. Mr. Weller well states ll:e 
case when he reiterates that "Attention should be again called, at this 
point, to the diverse and local character of the lithologic formations 
and of the faunas of the Kinderhook epoch. It is not possible, as 
has been the usual custom, to recognize three constant divisions of 
the Kinderhook, either lithologic or faunal, well defined throughout 
the whole area in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois, occupied by the rocks 
of this age. The names Louisiana limestone, Hannibal shale, and 
Chouteau limestone, cannot be applied to all the Kinderhook forma- 
tions throughout the area, and as investigations are prosecuted in 
various localities, other local formation names will have to be intro- 
duced." 
The composition of the Chonopectus sandstone fauna is as follows: 
CLASS GENERA SPECIES 
Brachiopoda I I5 I 20 
Pelecypoda I 19 | 2,2 
Gastropoda I 12 1 21 
Scaphoda I i I i 
Pteropoda I i I i 
Cephalopoda I 4 I 6 
Total I 52 I 81 
Of these the brachiopods are considered partly of Devonian aspect, 
but largely Carboniferous. The other five classes, comprising 75 per 
cent, of the species, and the 65 i)er cent, of the genera, have :in ad- 
mittedly Devonian !acies. 
Mr. Weller, however, places more weight upon another faitor. 
He says: "Taken as a whole, a larger number of the total 81 species, 
recognized in the fauna, have Devonian and not Carboniferous rela- 
tionships, but this is not sufficient evidence upon which to establish 
the Devonian age of the fauna. In general, in paleontologic interpre- 
tation, the initiation of a new invertebrate faunal element is of greater 
importance than the holding over of a much larger element from an 
old fauna, and on this principle the strongly Carboniferous element 
