AN EAR OF PREHISTORIC MAIZE THAT 



RESEMBLES THE FOSSIL FORM, 



ZEA ANTIQUA 



G. N. Collins 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. U. S. Department of Agrieulture 



The Fossil Ear 



The Arica Ear 



PREHISTORIC EARS OF MAIZE 



Figure 1. The Arica ear was taken from a prehistoric grave near Arica, Chile. The 

 fossil ear comes from Peru, although the exact region in which it was found is not known. 

 On the right are the butts of the two ears. The ear-stalks are so small that the ears must 

 either have drooped or been supported by the surrounding leaf sheath. Nearly all of the 

 characters exhibited by these ears can be duplicated in existing varieties of maize — a re- 

 markable demonstration of how little maize has been changed since prehistoric times. 



WHEN Zea antiqua was de- 

 scribed as a new species by 

 Dr. Knowlton^ it was not 

 found possible to point to a modern 

 variety of maize with ears closely re- 

 sembling the fossil ear on which the 

 new species was based. Although the 

 fossil ear presented no new characters, 

 no modern variety was known pos- 



sessing the particular coitibination of 

 characters exhibited by the fossil spe- 

 cimen. But in view of the great free- 

 dom of recombination in the maize 

 plant with respect to all its characters, 

 including those of the ear, no special 

 importance was attached to this failure 

 to find a modern ear duplicating the 

 fossil ear in every particular." 



^ Knowlton, F. H. Description of a Supposed New Fossil Species of IMaize from Peru. 

 Jourl. Wash, Acad. Sci., Vol. ix. No. 5, pp. 134-136. March 4, 1919. 



^Collins, G. N. A. Fossil Ear of Maize. Journal of Heredity. Vol. x, No. 4, pp. 171- 

 172, April, 1919. 



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