Wittmack — Our Present Knowledge of Ancient Plants. 13 



I have, however, some interesting things to say about 

 the seeds found in America. In North America we have 

 especially the Indian corn or maize found in the mounds. 

 It is all carbonized. The cobs of the mounds at Madisonville, 

 Ohio, resemble exactly the common corn, with flat grains like 

 the so-called Virginia corn. Besides maize, in the south- 

 western border states at Los Muertos, Arizona, and in the 

 caves of the cliff-dwellers are found common garden beans 

 (Phaseohis vulgaris), small ones, like the so-called pearl 

 beans. 



Quite different articles are found in the sepulchres of the 

 ancient Peruvians, especially in the ancient cemetery at An- 

 con near Lima.* Here we also find mummies, but they are 

 at the most only about five hundred years old. The dry air 

 permitted the corpses to be preserved without being embalmed. 

 They are in a squatting position covered with blankets, and 

 resemble a bale of goods. In the interior are often found 

 nets with food, for the men at Ancon were poor fishermen, 

 no rich Incas. The women have small baskets with yarn of 

 lama wool and knitting needles of wood, probably that they 

 mio-ht be diligent in heaven. The grains are not carbonized, 

 having retained their structure nearly unaltered, being only 

 slightly browned. Many cobs of corn of various varieties are 

 found so well preserved that one can see the single starch 

 grains under the microscope. One variety with thick cobs and 

 naveled grains is probably the origin of the American dent- 

 corn. But to me the most important fact was that there 

 were found two kinds of beans, very large beans, which are 



* L. Wittniack. Bohnen ausaltperuanischen Grabern. Verhdl., d. bot. 

 Ver. Neu Brandenburg, bd. XXI, Sitzungsberichte, p. 176 (1879). — f « Das 

 Vaterland der Bohnen und der Kurbis." Tageblatt der Naturforscher 

 Versammlung in Danzig, 1880, p. 176. — "Antike Siimereien aus der alten 

 und neuen Welt in ihren Beziehungen zur Gegenwart. Nachrichten aus 

 dera Klub der Landwirte in Berlin, 1881, no. 115. — " Die Heimath der 

 Bohnen und der Kurbisse." Berichte der deut. botan. Gesell., bd. VI, 

 1888, p. 374. — "Die Nutzpflanzen der alten Peruaner." Comptes rendus 

 du Congr^s international des Am^ricanietes, 7 session, Berlin, 1888, p. 

 325. —Text to plates 105-107 of Reiss und Stiibel " Das Totenfeld von 

 Ancon in Peru." Berlin, 1880-1887. 



