62 



The Journal of Heredity 



The close relationship of Zca antiqua 

 with modern or recent types of maize 

 is now demonstrated by the discovery 

 of a beautifully preserved ear in a 

 grave near Arica, Chile. The Arica 

 specimen is so like the fossil ear that 

 if the two specimens were contempor- 

 aneous they might be referred properly 

 to the same variety. The Arica speci- 

 men was unearthed by Colonel John W. 

 Gulick and came to my attention 

 through the kindness of Miss Caroline 

 Rumbold. Colonel Gulick kindly has 

 prepared the following statement of the 

 conditions under which it was found : 



The ear of "maize" was found by me 

 in an Indian grave or tomb in 1913 at 

 Arica, Chile, formerly a part of Peru. My 

 work in Chile was in connection with her 

 Coast Defenses and in mounting a num- 

 ber of 6-inch guns on the "Morro" of 

 Arica (a cliff rising about 250 meters out 

 of the sea), it was necessary to take the 

 guns up by means of a zig-zag track of 

 light rails laid on the land side of the cliff. 

 During these operations we ran into a large 

 group of graves or tombs which were in 

 an excellent state of preservation due to 

 the climatic conditions and the presence of 

 crude nitrate in the soil. As you are doubt- 

 less aware, this is an extremely arid area. 

 The Chilean soldiers, knowing that I was 

 interested in the history of the ancient 

 people, assisted me in securing quite a col- 

 lection of pottery, implements, toys, fabrics, 

 etc., from these tombs. Each body was 

 provided with a bag which contained a 

 collection of small pots or vessels for food 

 or drink. In some, quantities of cocoa 

 leaves or "mate" would be found. The 

 ear of "maize" was found in one of these 

 bags. 



The country about Arica has prac- 

 tically no rainfall, and maize is not 

 now grown in that region. Remains of 

 irrigation works indicate that streams 

 arising in the mountains formerly were 

 diverted and used for the growing of 

 crops. 



l^he Arica ear (see Figs. 1 and 2), 

 is somewhat smaller than the fossil, 

 which is incomplete, but presents prac- 

 tically the same characteristics. It 

 has small, pointed grains, irregularly 

 disposed in approximately 20 rows. 



The grains are borne over the entire 

 base of the ear which is somewhat en- 

 larged as in the fossil and the ear 

 stalk must have been extremely slen- 

 der. Existing varieties with such 

 small grains usually have an endosperm 

 that is almost completely corneous and 

 are classed as pop corns. Unless age 

 has changed the nature of the endo- 

 sperm, however, the prehistoric ear is 

 not a pop corn, for the seeds now are 

 filled with soft starch, the starch grains 

 being spherical. We never before have 

 seeii a variety of soft corn with seeds 

 so small as those of the Arica and the 

 fossil ears. 



An examination of the endosperm 

 of the maize from Arica was made 

 by Dr. E. H. Toole, who found it to 

 be true starch, staining blue or purple 

 with iodine. 



Since the fossil ear undoubtedly 

 represents the earliest type of maize of 

 which we have knowledge, it may be 

 of interest to examine the type as in- 

 terpreted by the Arica specimen and 

 call attention to such characters as may 

 be considered primitive. 



Si::c : The Arica specimen, which is 

 somewhat smaller than the fossil ear, 

 also is smaller than the ears of any 

 commercial variety except some of the 

 pop corns. Commercial varieties with 

 small ears have also small plants, a 

 general reduction in size having accom- 

 panied selection for earliness. ]\Iany 

 of these small varieties are very ef- 

 ficient and produce a large amount of 

 grain in proportion to their total 

 weight. 



Small ears, therefore, may not be 

 considered primitive unless they are 

 borne on relatively large plants. There 

 is at least one variety from Peru with 

 ears as small as the Arica specimen 

 and with plants over two meters in 

 height." 



SJiape : The tapering form of the 

 ear is perha])s a primitive character, 

 since in this rather extreme degree it 



■'' An ear of this variety is shown natural size as Nos. 

 Heredity, Vol. x, No. 4, p. 171, April, 1919. 



and G of Fig. 



Journal of 



