practised in pre-Columbian times. In spite of numerous 
facts which are not in harmony with such a conclusion, 
the only evidence shown by Guatemalan maize varieties 
which is seriously in conflict, is the complete absence of 
varieties exhibiting any of those successive morphological 
changes which must have occurred in the evolution of a 
wild teosinte to a cultivated maize. Only the initial raw 
material and the end-product are now in evidence. All of 
the intermediate steps which must have occurred have 
been completely and miraculously erased, and this has 
happened in a region where very distinct varieties of 
maize have maintained themselves in a relative state of 
purity in localities not more than a few miles apart. 
If, however, the newer hypothesis, —that teosinte is the 
hybrid progeny of maize rather than its progenitor,—is 
accepted, then this region is a secondary rather than the 
primary center of origin of cultivated maize varieties. It 
is not the area where maize culture originated or the focus 
from which it spread to all parts of the Americas. It is, 
however, the center from which the majority of maize va- 
rieties now cultivated in Central America, North Ameri- 
‘a, the lowlands of South America and the West Indies, 
have been derived. This hypothesis requires the assump- 
tion that maize was introduced into Central America 
from South America. The fact that varieties are found in 
Guatemala which resemble those of the Andean region, 
not only in external appearance but also in their internal 
chromosome structure, appears to satisfy this assumption. 
This does not mean, however, that the area in western 
Guatemala where the hybridization with Tripsacum oc- 
curred is also the area into which maize was first intro- 
duced from South America. There may have been a 
widespread culture of Andean types of maize in Central 
America and even in parts of North America before the 
hybridization with Tripsacum occurred. 
[ 244 ] 
