SAN ANTONIO — Texas child welfare authorities are looking at the possibility that young boys were sexually abused at a polygamist sect’s ranch, a newly disclosed angle of a massive investigation triggered by allegations that girls were forced into underage marriages and sex.

The head of the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, Carey Cockerell, told state lawmakers yesterday that his agency was investigating whether young boys were abused based on “discussions with the boys.”

In a written report, the agency said interviews and journal entries suggested young boys may have been sexually abused, but didn’t elaborate.

Mr. Cockerell also said 41 Family and Protective Services children had evidence of broken bones, some of whom are “very young.”

He offered no details in his presentation to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. He went to the lieutenant governor’s office immediately after his presentation and later sent out an aide to tell reporters he would not comment further.

Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the renegade Mormon sect that runs the ranch, reacted sharply to Mr. Cockerell’s comments, saying the state was deliberately misleading the public to cover up its own errors in the case. A physician at the ranch who is also an FLDS member said most of the broken bones were from minor falls and that there is no pattern of abuse there.

A spokesman for the Child Protective Services division, Patrick Crimmins, said the state was still investigating and Mr. Cockerell’s comments were not meant to be an allegation of abuse.