announced the discovery in Mexico of a diploid perennial 
teosinte. As senior author of the present article. I recognized 
this as a significant discovery and I wrote Iltis at once con- 
gratulating him. I failed, however, to recognize the full signifi- 
cance of the discovery. It remained for H. Garrison Wilkes, the 
author of the book, Teosinte: the Closest Relative of Maize (2). 
presently in India, to point out in a letter to me, dated Jan. 17, 
that this discovery may be the key piece in the puzzle, a 
so-called **missing link’’ in corn’s genealogy. Wilkes assumes, 
correctly I think, that hybridization between the diploid peren- 
nial teosinte and a wild annual corn could have produced all of 
the known annual races of teosinte. This assumption is to a 
large extent testable. 
I am urging Wilkes to publish this concept and its implica- 
tions as soon as possible, and I am hoping that this postscript 
will serve to establish his priority for an imaginative and impor- 
tant new idea. The relevance of our present article to this new 
concept Is obvious. 
REFERENCES AND NOTES 
1. G.W. Beadle, in World Anthropology, General Editor Sol Tax Origins 
of Agriculture, Charles A. Reed, Ed. (Mouton Publishers, The Hague- 
Paris, 1977), p. 615: /bid., in Report of Thirty-Second Annual Corn and 
Sorghum Research Conference, H.D. Loden and D. Wilkinson, Eds. 
(American Seed Trade Association, Washington, D.C., 1977), p. 1. 
2. H.G. Wilkes, Teosinte: the Closest Relative of Maize. (Bussey Inst. 
Harvard Univ., Cambridge. Mass., 1967). 
3. G.W. Beadle, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull., 43, 2 (1972). 
4. R.A. Emerson and G.W. Beadle, Zeitsch. Ind. Abstamm. Vererb., 62, 
305 (1932). 
5. W.C. Galinat, in Corn and Corn Improvement, G.F. Sprague, Ed. 
(Amer. Soc. of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, 1977), p. |. 
Ihid., Ann. Rev. Genetics, 5, 447 (1971). 
Ibid., in Genetics and Breeding of Maize, D.B. Walden, Ed. (Wiley & 
Sons. New York. 1978). p. 93. 
8. P.C. Mangelsdorf. Corn Its Origin, Evolution, and Improvement. (Har- 
vard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1974). 
9. L.F. Randolph, Econ. Bor. 30, 321 (1975). 
10.) P.C. Mangelsdorf, Field Mus. of Nat. Hist. Bull., 44, no. 3, 16, (1973). 
ll. H.G. Wilkes, Science. 200, 41 (1978). 
12. K.H.Clisby and P.B. Sears, Bull. Geo. Soc. Amer., 66, 511 (1955): P.B. 
Sears and K.H. Clisby. /bid., 521 (1955). 
aS 
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