THE ORIGIN OF CORN 
V. A Critique or CuRRENT THEORIES 
BY 
Rosert G. REEVES AND Paut C. MANGELSDORF 
In the previous papers in this series (22, 23, 24, 32), we 
have reviewed the objections to and the evidence sup- 
porting our tripartite theory on the origin and evolution 
of corn. We have shown that the factual evidence for 
some parts of this theory has increased substantially dur- 
ing the last two decades, and that nothing has yet come 
to our attention which completely rules out any part of it. 
The hypothesis that the original corn was a type of 
pod corn is all but proven by archaeological evidence and 
by a genetic reconstruction of the ancestral form (15, 16, 
17, 19, 20). Because of the discovery of fossil corn pollen 
in Mexico, the view that corn originated in South Amer- 
ica is less satisfactory now than it was twenty years ago, 
but the hypothesis of a South American origin is not yet 
completely untenable since research on some phases of 
this problem, such as that on fossil pollen, has only begun. 
The evidence that teosinte (Zea mexicana) originated 
as a hybrid between corn and ‘Tripsacum is decidedly 
stronger now than when the hypothesis was first pre- 
sented and, contrary to opinions of several other workers, 
there is no sound evidence against the hypothesis. We 
have always recognized that this part of the tripartite 
theory cannot easily be tested. We have never consid- 
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