27 
MESOZOIC PLANTS FROM THE MATTAGAMI SERIES, 
ONTARIO 
By W. A. Bell 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 27 
Description of species 28 
Illustrations 
Plates XIV to XVIII. Illustrations of fossils 
59-67 
INTKODUCTION 
The Mattagami series outcrops in an area on the James Bay water- 
shed. The plant material herein described was collected by F. H. 
McLearn, of the Geological Survey, Canada, and Professor It. J. Mont- 
gomery and R. J. Watson, of the Ontario Department of Mines, during an 
investigation of coal within the series. It was gathered from two 
localities on Mattagami river. From locality 138, on the east bank, about 
1,000 feet south of the township line between Kipling and Sandborn, was 
gathered a single fragment of brownish grey sandvStone that carried several 
imprints of Nilssonia leaves. The material from locality 136 comprised 
a number of small blocks of grey, carbonaceous shale loosely packed 
with carbonized plant remains, and containing in addition lignified 
fragments of stems, and chips of mineral charcoal or fusain. This 
material was moist on delivery and some hours afterwards was found to 
have flaked and disintegrated badly. Leaves, formerly clearly outlined 
on the surface of the shale, had dried, cracked, and shrivelled. Accord- 
ingly, a part of the material was placed in water and the clay and sand 
removed by panning. The plants thus obtained were studied while still 
damp, or after drying and coating with a solution of celluloid. Drying 
was carried out by immersion first in kerosene oil then in gasoline. Some 
specimens were treated by macerating solutions, of which Javelle water 
gave the best results, and cuticles obtained. This method of treatment 
extended arid carried on with greater thoroughness would doubtless yield 
botanical information of great interest on account of the mid-Mesozoic 
age of the plants and their remarkable preservation. 
The plant debris left on the removal of the mud and sand is predomin- 
antly an accumulation of conifer twigs of one species. Some parts carried 
in addition abundant grass-like, flexible blades comparable in appearance 
to the so-called Oleandra graminaefolia , and more rarely small fragments 
of ferns. The good preservation of minute foliar teeth testifies to the 
quiet conditions of accumulation of the mass. The environment is believed 
to have been that of a conifer swamp characterized by periodic floods of 
water and deposition practically in situ or after very short transportation 
into a temporary lake. 
