During more than 100 years of geologic study, different names in vast number have been applied to the rock formations of the Appalachian region. Some early terms are still in good usage; others have been replaced by more appropriate substitutes; still others have lost value because the formation to which they were once applied has been separated into smaller divisions. Refinements in methods of rock study and correlation, more careful field and laboratory work, and more specific fossil identification have all made possible--indeed, made necessary--an increasingly greater refinement in the nomenclature of Appalachian rock formations. Of course the same remarks can be made for any other geologic province, but the special concern of this paper is with the Appalachian country where, it is probable, more than 2,000 formational names have been applied to different parts of its rock column.

The following points summarize the recommendations of this paper.

1. Do not continue to use obsolete stratigraphic names unless you place them in quotation marks and avoid such names wherever possible.

2. Do not mix time and rock names; that is, do not say "Clinton sand" when you mean "a sand of Clinton age."

3. Do not use drillers' names if there is an available stratigraphic name, and if you must refer to drillers' terms, put them in quotation marks.

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4. Do not confuse identification, correlation, and postulation. In every instance explain in your reports exactly which process you are employing and why.

5. Do not coin new names until you are convinced it will not be superfluous.

6. Pay more attention to whatever rock terminology you use. Find out who used each rock name first and where and why. Every good stratigraphic report--even the company report--should contain some comment on the origin and use of the names it employs; and every good stratigrapher should have concern for the correct application of even the most familiar or rock names. Some of the best known and most commonly used proper names are still confusing, erroneous, or misleading.

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