bility of an Old World origin of maize, since sorghum 
is undeniably an Old World cereal. Actually the alleged 
resemblances of Assamese maize to sorghum are either 
superficial or are examples of the well-known phenome- 
non of parallel variation which is especially well exem- 
plified among plants by the cultivated cereals and among 
animals by the rodents. 
In the category of superficial resemblances are the 
isodiametric straw-colored or dull blue kernels. Maize 
kernels when not crowded tend to be spherical, and the 
fact that kernels of Assamese maize approach this gen- 
eral shape merely indicates that they are borne on ears 
on which the kernels are not crowded. This is true of 
many varieties of South American maize. Furthermore, 
any variety of maize will produce spherical sorghum-like 
kernels when it bears kernels in the tassel, as practically 
all varieties are capable of doing when grown in small 
pots in the greenhouse or when otherwise stunted. 
The resemblance in kernel color between the Assam- 
ese maize and sorghum is meaningless, since entirely 
different color-bearing tissues are involved in the two 
plants. The yellow and blue colors of the Assamese 
maize are endosperm and aleurone colors respectively 
and occur in triploid tissue resulting from the process of 
double fertilization which is characteristic of the Angio- 
sperm seed. The colors of sorghum kernels occur in the 
pericarp and nucellar layer both of which are diploid ma- 
ternal tissues (Swanson, 1928). So far as we know, en- 
dosperm and aleurone colors have never been reported 
in sorghum. 
The resemblances of Assamese maize to sorghum in 
lacking anthocyanin pigmentation and in possessing a 
distinct bloom are nothing more than typical examples 
of parallel variations in cereals and other cultivated 
grasses such as sugar cane, in which variations in antho- 
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