The Taconic — Mar ecu. 7^ 
As to his use of the names Lower Silurian and Ordovician 
instead of Champlain system, it is another example of his com- 
plete disregard for the right of priority of American geological 
names. Never has such a surrender of just claims of discoveries 
and of the right of priority into the hands of another natioa 
been made. It will not be forgotten by the actual and future 
generations of American geologists. 
The sections and geological maps of the Taconic 
AREA. — Among the "principles" put forward by Mr. Walcott^ 
at the beginning of his paper in order to have "the question of 
the Taconic system intelligently understood," he makes the 
statement that " different sections of strata in the same province 
may be compared with one another when the continuity is. 
broken." A "principle" used constantly by every practical 
geologist everywhere, as can be seen exemplified in almost all 
stratigraphical papers issued during the last forty ^^ears. It was 
to be expected that Mr. Walcott would follow the "principle,"" 
but we searched his paper in vain; there is not a single section 
given with the details required for a comparison. Trenton falls- 
and Utica being in the "same province" and the same basin as 
the Taconic area, as well as the Champlain sections at Chazy^ 
isle La Motte, Grand isle, South Hero, one would have expected 
to find good and detailed sections [giving the thickness, the 
lithology, the exact position of fossils, their names, their abun- 
dance or rarity, their affinities and associations, etc.,] of those 
localities in Mr. Walcott's paper, as well as detailed sections of 
the Taconic area, in order to allow every geologist to compare 
and judge for himself. But instead we have only drawn on the 
upper part of the map, a general section across the Taconic area,, 
without any sort of details, showing only a goicral outliiic of 
the ground, with the amount of invisible faults necessary to ac- 
count for the stratigraphic classification and nomenclature used. 
The geological map of Mr. Walcott instead of being an im- 
provement over the old map of Dr. Emmons of 1S44, '^ ^ back- 
ward move, which takes out from the Taconic area half of the 
surface occupied by the Taconic system, referring it wrongly to 
the Champlain system. 
After forty-four years of discussions and researches, the 
adversaries of the Taconic system have not been able to publish 
