OSMUNDACEAE _ 



Osmmidaceae. Natural order 



i i't.-M.i..|iii\ 1:1. oon Isting i>f two 

 >iilv. di'iunda ana Todta. 

 I'll, v lia\i i iv. pingrootstocka, and 

 the sporangia are not covered by a 

 IM-HM It- (indusium), and the spore- 

 iip-ules split into two valves by a 

 1 1 assure, there being no 

 " ring " as in the other ferns. The 

 spores contain chlorophyll, and soon 

 perish if they do not immediately 

 tiiul conditions favourable for 



Osnabruck. City of Hanover, 

 < .Vniiiiiiy Situated on the Hase, 

 70 m. W. of Hanover, relics of its 

 old past include S. Mary's Church, 

 a fine Gothic building, the R.C. 

 cathedral with its cloisters, trea- 

 sury, and relics of Charlemagne, and 

 the town hall, wherein the treaty of 

 Westphalia was discussed. The in- 

 dustries are iron and steel works, 

 spinning and weaving, and the mak- 

 ing of chemicals, paper, etc. It is a 

 rly. junction, and has a trade in 

 cattle and horses. In the 9th century 

 Osnabruck was a walled town. It 

 belonged to the Hanseatic League, 

 and in the 15th century had a con- 

 siderable trade. The bishopric of 

 Osnabfuck was founded in the 

 time of Charlemagne, about 800. 

 Its bishop soon became a rich and 

 powerful prelate, ruling over a large 

 area around the city. As a princi- 

 pality it survived the Reformation. 

 In 1C48, at the peace of West- 

 phalia. it wap arranged that it 



5889 



alt., lien 40 m. 8.E. of the town W 

 f i lie lake Tod<* lot Santo*. 



Osorrei. Town of Rumania, 

 formerly in Hungary and known M 

 Maroa Vasarholy or by it* German 

 name Neumarkt. It stand* on tli> 

 Maresul (Maros) in Transylvania, 

 80 m. by rly. from Clui (Kolowvar), 

 and is the capital of Szokli-rhind. 

 It contains the Teleki Library and 

 the Szekler National Museum. 

 There are timber and petroleum 

 industries. Sugar, tobacco, tilea, 

 spirits, and pottery are manu 

 factured. Pop. 25,500. 



Osprey (Lat. ossifraga, bont 

 breaker). Bird of prey (Pandion 

 liu/i'ii'titx), known also as the fish- 

 ing hawk. It is about 2 ft. long, the 

 back and wings are dark brown, the 

 crown of the head and the throat 

 whitish, and the under parts white. 

 It is found in nearly all parts of the 

 world, except in deserts and near 

 the Poles, but is rare in Great 

 Britain, though it may still nest in 

 a few secluded districts in N. Scot- 

 land. The nest, a very large struc- 

 ture of sticks lined with moss, is 

 usually built in a tree, but where 

 trees are scarce may be made on the 

 ground or on the ledges of cliffs. It 

 is always found near water, as the 

 bird's food consists entirely of fish. 

 The osprey soars to great heights, 

 watching for its prey, on sight of 

 which it darts down with great 

 speed and seizes it with its claws. 

 The so-called osprey plumes of 

 commerce are 

 taken from a spe- 

 cies of egret (q.v.). 

 Ossa. Moun- 

 tain of Greece, in 

 Thessaly. It rises 

 E. of the river 

 Peneus, and with 

 its neighbouring 

 height of Pelion 



'-,-. i /- i 



Osprey. 



Species ol the bird found 

 in Australia 



should be held by a Roman Catholic 

 and a Protestant prince alternately, 

 several of the Protestants being 

 members of the house of Hanover. 

 The last was George Ill's son, 

 Frederick, duke of York. In 1815 

 its lands were added to Hanover. 

 The modern R.C- bishopric dates 

 trom 1857. The town gives its 

 name to the coarse linens called 

 Osnaburgs Pop. 75,000. 



Osorno. Town and volcano in 

 Chile. The town is situated in the 

 dept. of Llanquihue, 50 m. S.E. of 

 Valdivia on the rly. from Puerto 

 Montt to Santiago, in the middle of 

 an important agricultural and in- 

 dustrial dist. It has trade in 

 cereals, Hour -mills, and distilleries. 

 Pop. 7,500. The volcano, 8,725 ft. 



Osnabruck, Germany. The R.C. cathedral from the 



north; top, left, view in the close ; left to right are seen 



the bishop's palace, statue to Justus Moser, the patriot 



author, and the seminary 



(q.v.) IB separated from Olympus 

 by the vale of Tempe. The chief 

 peak is 6,398 ft. high, and is now 

 known as Kissavoa, 



Osset. People of Sarmatian 

 descent on both slopes of the 

 Dariel Pass in the Middle Caucasus. 

 Numbering in 1897 171,716, of 

 Iranian speech, they are tall, 

 frequently light-eyed and blond- 

 haired, with Altaian head-form. 

 Byzantine missions, Islam and 

 modern Russian orthodoxy have 

 not submerged their primitive 

 animism, which is maintained 

 more persistently than in any 

 Aryan people outside India. 



Ossett. Mun. bor. of Yorkshire 

 (W.R.), England. It stands near 

 the Calder, 3 m. from Wakefield, 

 with stations on the L. & Y. and 

 G.N. Rlys. The chief industry is 

 the manufacture of cloth, and in 

 the vicinity are coal mines. The 

 fine church of Holy Trinity is 

 modern. At South Ossett are 

 mineral springs. Ossett was made 

 a borough in 1890, the munici- 

 pality including Gawthorpe. Mar- 

 ^^ m ketday, FP. Pop. 

 14,000. 



O s s i a n ( I r. 

 Oisin). Irish hero 

 and bard of the 

 3rd century. The 

 son of Finn 

 Mao Cumhal, he 

 is traditionally 

 the great poet 

 of the Gaels, and 

 is himself a prom- 

 i n e n t figure in 

 hundreds of bal- 

 lads and tales from 

 the 12th to the 

 18th century. His 

 fame spread to the 

 Scottish High- 

 lands. He fled after 

 the Fenian defeat 

 at Gabhra in 293. 

 A variant of a wide- 

 spread fairy tale 

 relates that ho 



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