WALDRON— THE PEANUT 309 



according to this author. It was taken to Europe by early travelers, 

 the Portuguese being there the first propagators, as indicated by 

 Parkinson and others. Further evidence in support of this east- 

 ward distribution, which seems more natural from the geographical 

 standpoint, is, that (i) all early illustrations of European and 

 Brazilian works show two seeds, and (2) those of West Africa are 

 two-seeded. The Peruvian type was a variety created in Peru from 

 a form carried there from Brazil some time before the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. The question now arises as to the possibility of this plant 

 being a different species from the common two-seeded type. Ben- 

 tham states the number of seeds to vary from one to three in this 

 genus. This being true, any species might well have been selected. 

 However, Dubard later describes differences in the structure of 

 these which are sufficiently marked to separate them into species. 

 About Magellan's time, this three-seeded form was carried from Peru, to 

 the Moluccas, Phillipines, Indo-China, Asia and Madagascar. If this 

 is true, we should find the three-seeded fruits in these Pacific local- 

 ities, and this Dubard proves to be true, by comparing specimens 

 taken at hazard from Java, Indo-China and Madagascar. (Figure 3.) 



Finally, if peanuts of to-day from Spain and North America be 

 examined, the above two types will be found, indicating a meeting 

 again of these, after having been carried around the world in opposite 

 directions, yet remaining distinct in character. The Peruvian form 

 was undoubtedly carried north and east, but at a date much later 

 than its westward spread. The supposition, according to record, 

 that the two were present at about the same time, — the one in Africa 

 and Europe, the other in the Orient, — further supports this view. 

 Watt states that one name given it in India, where it is much culti- 

 vated, is "Manilla-Kottai." This suggests its introduction there 

 from the Phillipines. All these facts relating to the distribution 

 are suggestive, when the lack of evidence of its presence during ancient 

 times in China, India, Africa and Europe is considered. 



Since Dubard does not describe the plants of his two forms, it is 

 impossible to determine whether or not they might correspond to 

 the erect and prostrate types. He does describe the fruit and seed 

 of each, however, and it is found that his Brazilian form corresponds 

 to some of the erect, and his Peruvian form to some of the prostrate 

 varieties of to-day. If such a history is possible, which does not 

 seem unlikely, the reported distribution of the two wild species — 

 A. prostrata and A. piisilla — is again significant. The former, 



