mens been engaged in studies of the prehistoric wild corn 
of the Tehuacin Valley in Mexico, saw in this specimen 
some resemblance to the Mexican corn; this raised in 
his mind the question of whether there could once have 
been a wild corn in Chile. Subsequent correspondence 
with the Junior author made it clear that this part of 
Chile could scarcely have provided a suitable habitat for 
wild corn, and we concluded that this specimen is proba- 
bly that of a stunted ear, borne on a depauperate plant. 
K.xcept for their smaller size, these earlier Chilean cobs 
(see Plate NV, fig. A) are quite similar in their charac- 
teristics to cobs of the modern race Capio Chico. The 
average data for their lengths, diameters, diameter/ 
length ratios, and kernel-row numbers are 4.6, 1.6, 0.35, 
and 17.2 respectively. For their modern counterparts, 
the corresponding averages, published by Timothy et a/., 
are 8.6, 2.38, 0.27, and 17.2 respectively. The similarity 
in kernel-row numbers is especially significant. 
In their dimensions, the Chilean cobs resemble even 
more closely the prehistoric ears excavated by Dr. 
Dwight Wallace from the Los Cerillos site in the Ica 
Valley on the south coast of Peru, some 1100 km. north 
of the Chilean site. This corn, estimated to be 2300- 
2500 years old, has been briefly described by Grobman 
et al, (1961) as a prehistoric race, Confite [queno; three 
ears of this race are illustrated in their figure 19. 
The specimens from the Los Cerillos site are unusually 
well preserved, the kernels still being attached to their 
cobs. To obtain estimates of the diameters of the cobs, 
we subtracted from the diameters of the ears 9/10 of the 
length of two average kernels, assuming that 1/10 of 
their length, on the average, was embedded in the cob; 
this figure is based on the data published by ‘Timothy 
et al. tor Capio Chico. 
Kistimates obtained in this manner from the Los Ceril- 
