A Study of the Fertile Hybrids Produced by 

 Crossing Teosinte and Maize. 



( with fla tjs xxii. ) 



By John W. Harshberger, Ph. D. 



This study is presented as an appendix to the monograph 

 on maize, which appeared in " Contributions from the Botan- 

 ical Laboratory, University of Penns)'lvania " (Vol. I, No. 2, 



P- 75)- 



Professor A. Duges sent in 1888 to the Cambridge Botan- 

 ical Garden several maize plants which he had collected at 

 Novo Leon, Mexico. Seeds from these plants were sown at 

 that garden, and the plants which resulted were studied by the 

 late Sereno Watson.^ Small ears and kernels of the second 

 generation were procured from Cambridge, Mass., and planted 

 in Philadelphia. The flowers and fruits obtained from the 

 plants thus grown were described and figured in the mono- 

 graph mentioned above. Later, inquiry was made of Dr. 

 Duges concerning his discovery, and the following letter in 

 French, dated September 22, 1895, and mailed from Guana- 

 juato was received : 



"The maize, which Dr. Sereno Watson named Zea canma 

 from the examples which I sent him, is known in Mexico as 

 ' maiz de coyote ' {Lupus latrans), ' teosinte,' ' asese ' or ' cafe 

 de Tabasco.' We consider it to be Eiichlcena hcxuriatts, Eiich- 

 Icena mexicana or Reaiia luxiirians. It appears that it has 

 been cultivated in Europe and also in Mexico, where it has 

 been grown by Professor Jose C. Segura, director of the 

 School of Agriculture, City of Mexico. This botanist dis- 

 covered at the end of three years of careful cultivation in 

 good soil, that it changed to Zca mays, and if abandoned to 



1 Watson, Proceedings American Academy of Arts and Sciences, xxvi, p. 158. 



(231) 



