16 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
The Endodermis—There is no clearly differentiated endodermal 
iayer as in Osmunda. (Plate VI. fig. 12.) The radially flattened 
cells of the outer phloem are immediately adjacent to the zone of starch- 
bearing parenchyma. This latter (Plate VI., fig. 12) is made up of 
large, thin-walled cells containing comparatively little starch, which 
may possibly be explained by the unusual thickening of the stipes, the 
fleshy bases of which form a compact zone of considerable width 
immediately external to the sclerenchyma, and thus make up the chief 
portion of the stem. The parenchyma zone is only 7 mm. in outside 
diameter, and it is traversed by few leaf traces. 
The sclerenchyma zone has an extreme external diameter of 2 cm., 
and it is thus much more voluminous than in Osmunda, but far less so 
than in the fossil. 
From the facts thus set forth, the following general conclusions 
may be drawn :— 
1st. The fossil represents a plant of the general external aspect and 
habit of growth of Osmunda regalis. 
2nd. In size it was much greater than any of the three species of 
Osmunda common to this latitude, and probably about seven times larger 
than O. regalis. 
3rd. In its internal structure it approaches Osmunda on the one 
hand and Todea on the other. 
4th. In the absence of foliage and fructification, no precise connec- 
tion with one or the other of these genera can be established. 
5th. The evidence now at hand seems to indicate a closer affinity 
with Osmunda than with Todea. 
In view of these conclusions, it would seem most expedient to refer 
this plant to the genus Osmundites, and to assign it a specific name 
indicative of the locality, for which O. skidegatensis seems appropriate. 
At the present time but few species of Osmundites are known. Two 
of these are European, and their determination is based upon the stem 
structure, while of the four North American species, the three hitherto 
described are based upon the foliage only. Astrochlena schemniciensis 
of Pettko, which Unger later referred to Osmundites, was derived from 
the Tertiary of Schemnitz in Hungary.’ I have not been able to com- 
pare the present specimen with it. 
Osmundites dowkeri of Carruthers * was obtained from the Lower 
Eocene of Home Bay, England. It is described as much larger than 
Osmunda regalis, and in this respect may be regarded as representing a 
type similar to that of O. skidegatensis. It is also of interest to note 


E De Bary, Comp. Anat. of Phan. & Ferns, 347. 
7 Solms-Laubach, Fossil Botany, 172. 
# Quart. Jrnl. Geol. Soc., 1870, 349. 
