482 Professor A. C. Seward—Fossil Plants from South Africa. 
Osmundites Kolber, sp. nov. (Pl. XX, Figs. 2-4; Pl. XXI, 
Figs. 5a—d.) 
The material on which this species is founded was obtained from the 
Uitenhage Series at Herbertsdale in Cape Colony and presented to the 
South African Museum by Mr. Kolbe. It consists of several pieces of 
what appears to have been a large stem réaching a length of about 
90cm. The outline drawing reproduced in Fig. 2 from a photograph 
sent to me from the Museum by Miss Wilman shows the curious shape 
of the fossil, tapering to a blunt point at one end and flatter and 
broader at the other; Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the surface features as 
seen on portions of the weathered stem. The smaller piece (Fig. 3) 
represents the narrow end of the specimen (#, Fig. 2); the side seen 
in the photograph shows the remains of petioles, and on the reverse 
side numerous sinuous roots occur in association with the bases of 
leaf-stalks. The roots are approximately circular in section, the 
portion preserved being the resistant sclerenchymatous sheath which 
surrounded the central cylinder. Fig. 4 shows a larger portion (33 em. 
long) of the stem represented in outline in Fig. 2; the section of the 
broader end, which is considerably flattened, measures 20 by 6cm.: 
at ¢ there is a well-marked depression towards which the petioles 
converge and gradually become smaller in diameter, suggesting the 
position of a branch apex. On the weathered surface of the block 
shown in Fig. 4 petiole-bases are seen at various angles and differing 
therefore in outline: a petiole section exposed at a, Fig. 4, and enlarged 
in Fig. 5a, displays the vascular strand of the main axis of the frond 
as a broad U with the free ends curved inwards; the ridge forming the 
outer boundary of the petiole no doubt owes its prominence to a band 
of sclerenchyma which formed a protective and strengthening covering 
to the leaf-stalk. The form of the vascular strand of a smaller and 
presumably younger leaf is shown in Fig. 50, and Fig. 5¢ represents 
a partially crushed petiole (enlarged 3 times) with a flattened 
U-shaped vascular strand. The petioles exposed at 6, Fig. 4, are seen 
more clearly in Fig. 5d. There is a close resemblance between this 
specimen, as regards the structure of the petiole-bases, and Osmundites 
Dowkert, Carr., from the Lower Eocene of Herne Bay.* 
The material on which the above description is based is now in the 
hands of my friend Mr. Kidston, to whom it was sent in the hope that 
the new species might be more fully described in the monograph on 
Fossil Osmundaceze on which he is engaged in collaboration with 
Mr. Gwynne-Vaughan.? Mr. Kidston tells me that a preliminary 
examination of sections has revealed the presence of tissues in a fairly 
good state of preservation and confirmed the identification of the stem 
as a species of Osmundites. 
In its dimensions and in the branching indicated in Fig. 4 the fossil 
stem resembles that of the recent species Zodea barbara, Hook.,* an 
Osmundaceous fern which occurs in South Africa, East Australia, and 
1 Carruthers: Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvi (1870), p. 349, pl. xxiv. 
2 The first part of this work was published a few months ago by the Royal Society 
of Edinburgh in vol. xlv of the Transactions. 
3 Seward & Ford: Trans. Linn. Soc., 1904, p. 173. 
