S6 The laconic — Marcou. 
Ireland, and with it a corresponding reduction of the Dyas to 
an area reduced by two thirds. 
In North America it will be the same; after a complete an- 
nihilation and suppression of the Taconic system, by its combined 
adversaries, we shall have vast surfaces of the continent covered 
entirely by the series of the strata containing the infra-primor- 
dial, the primordial, and the supra-primordial faunas. 
In my paper, "The Taconic of Georgia and the Report on 
the Geology of Vermont," Boston, iSSS, I hailed " with joy the 
arrival of new observers, better fitted and armed than I was, 
sure that now the truth will not be kept much longer in the 
background." I said also that "the U. S. Geological Survey 
has a splendid field of operation." I am far from regretting to 
have welcomed the advent of the new researches and conclu- 
sions of Mr. Walcott, although Mr. Walcott has withdrawn 
subsequently, his communication to the National Academy of 
Science, of the 22nd of April, 1SS7, his letter to professor N. 
H. Winchell, dated June Sth, 1SS7, and retracted all his views 
and opinions, unasked for and freely expressed by him in his 
visit to me in the early spring of 1SS7. His paper, 77ic Ta- 
conic system of Emmoiis^ and the 74se of the name Taconic in 
geologic nomenclature^ is an unjust and passionate contribution 
to the Taconic question; and if its appearance has disappointed 
me, in regard to "more just and less passionate discussion," I 
hope it will serve to awaken the interest of American geologists, 
and that more of them will be induced by it to go to the Taconic 
region and see for themselves. 
The United States Geological Survey has assumed the duty 
of representing, to a certain degree, the majority of opinions of 
observers on American geology. It cannot now leave the 
Taconic system under such passionate and unpatriotic attacks. 
Its duty is clearly indicated. A thorough survey, as detailed as 
the one made of the vicinity of Leadville, Colorado, should be 
undertaken at once for the whole Taconic area, from the Tappan 
sea to the Canada boundary line at Phillipsburgh; and the de- 
posits should be followed by a mutual consent and agreement 
with the Geological Survey of Canada, all through Canada to 
Gasp^, and eyen the western part of Newfoundland. A most 
minute and thorough comparison must be made also of those 
