the aechean. 147 
signify by page and numbered paragraph those to which 
you object, with the alterations which you would make. 
Please state explicitly that you are willing to ac- 
cept THESE suggestions CONTAINED IN THE PART OF THE 
International Committee's Report referred to, or the 
recommendations of the congress, or both, if such be 
the fact. 
Of those to whom this question was sent Prof. Irving, Mr. Wal- 
cott, Dr. S. F. Emmons, Mr. Thos. Macfarlane, Capt. Dutton, 
and Prof. Heilprin replied in the categorical manner requested. 
(Their objections have been tabulated on the next page.) 
The following is a condensed statement of the objections to the 
suggestions contained in the report of the Committee on JS^omen- 
clature : 
1. The restriction of the word 'formation,' to ideas of origin 
and not of time, is endorsed by Macfarlane and Dutton, and op- 
posed by Emmons and Walcott, Heilprin and A. Winchell. No 
others have expressed an opinion on the subject. 
2. In common with many geologists here and abroad, Irving, 
Emmons, Walcott, Macfarlane, Heilprin and Dutton, do not ap- 
prove of putting ' group' at the top of the classification. Em- 
mons and Walcott prefer 'system,' Macfarlane and A. Winchell 
prefer 'series,' Dutton and Irving do not specify, but the latter 
is willing to conform to any of the suggestions as to the three 
large divisions, provided there is general consent. As stated else- 
where, it is not improbable that a change may be made. 
3. Emmons, Walcott and Macfarlane prefer ' group ' as the 
second division, and A. Winchell would have it the third in 
comprehensiveness. 
4. Emmons prefers 'terrane' to 'series' for divisions of the 
third order, 
5. Irving, Walcott and Dutton object to prescribing the names 
of any divisions subordinate to the last, thinking that these 
should be left to the geologists of each country. Emmons and 
Macfarlane object to the word 'stage' for 6tage. The former 
suggests nothing in its place, but the latter proposes ' floor ' or 
'division,' giving preference to the latter. 
6. Emmons, Walcott and A. Winchell object to the succession, 
— order, era, period, epoch, age. The first prefers — era, age, epoch 
or period, — the others change the places of the last two. Macfar- 
