32 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
OSMUNDITES SKIDEGATENSIS, Penh. 
Plates VII.— XI. 
Lower Cretaceous of Maud Island and Skidegate Inlet, Queen Charlotte 
Islands. 
Among the material from Maud Island was an imperfectly pre- 
served fragment of a frond representing a portion of a pinna 2 cm. 
long. On the central rachis which was conspicuous, there were portions 
of five pairs of pinnules, so that the entire pinna had a width of 1 cm. 
The pinnules are oblong, obtuse (7), entire and with a somewhat 
distinct midrib from which the apparently forking veins diverge at a 
conspicuous angle. The pinnules make an angle of about 40 deg. with 
the rachis, and they present a width of 3-5 mm. Two of them show 
depressions extending from the midvein to the margin, of such form 
and character as to immediately suggest the soral areas of Osmunda, 
and more particularly of Todea. No further evidence of the fruit 
appears, however, as all of the sporangia, if originally present, have 
completely disappeared. The depressions are of sufficient number and 
their relations to the general structure are of such a nature as to 
eliminate the idea of “accidental features.” They diverge from the 
midvein parallel to the veins, and they extend from the midvein to the 
margin. In one or two cases they were found to exactly correspond to _ 
the shght lobing of the pinnule—one depression to each lobe. If these 
features are connected with the development of .the fruit, it then 
becomes obvious that the sori must have been oblong, and placed in 
two series laterally to the midrib. Bringing these features into com- 
parison with what may be found among existing types, they are 
obviously representative of the Osmundaceae, and perhaps most 
suggestive in some respects of the genus Todea, while in others they 
suggest Osmunda. But no existing T'odeas have fronds exhibiting such 
diminutive segments as are here represented, so that the specimen is 
no doubt. to be regarded as representing the fertile frond of an 
Osmunda of the type of O. claytoniana. 
In immediate association with the frond there was found a small 
fragment of a stem measuring 5 mm. in diameter and 13 mm. in 
length. This specimen was perfectly terete and showed neither sur- 
face markings nor carbonized residue indicative of cortex. The 
transverse fracture gave no indication of structure beyond a circular 
zone near the central portion, suggestive of a vascular axis or stele. 
Although not in absolute connection with the frond, the very intimate 
