The ancestry of maize—a reply to criticism 
PAUL WEATHERWAX 
In a recent article by H. J. Kempton (1), of the: Bureau of 
Plant Industry, exception is taken to some statements made by 
me ina paper appearing last September in the Bulletin of the 
Torrey Botanical Club (45: 309-342), on the evolution of maize. 
Inasmuch as some real errors are pointed out in this criticism, 
their correction is in order; but, as to certain other points upon 
which our data differ, I have nothing to add to my original paper. 
Our differences of opinion on matters of interpretation and evalu- 
ation of facts would probably not be diminished by further dis- 
cussion; and any criticism on ethical grounds of the spirit of 
Kempton’s paper and his imputations of the writer’s ignorance 
are left to the fair judgment of the reader. But Kempton’s man- 
ner of treating details and his intermingling of the irrelevant with 
the relevant have clouded the issue, and a brief presentation of its 
present status seems appropriate. 
It is said (p. 4) that I have misrepresented Collins (2) by con- 
fusing bracts with prophylla and by substituting ‘‘one-rowed”’ 
for “single-rowed” in a quotation. Both points are well taken, 
for no misrepresentation was intended. These errors had been 
discovered long before the appearance of Kempton’s paper, and 
steps had already been taken to correct them; this is a welcome 
opportunity to do so. 
_ The error in speaking of the husk of the maize ear as pro- 
phylla (pp. 314, 330) does involve an unintentional misrepre- 
sentation of Collins’s statement; but this point is beside the ques- 
tion, for the true prophylla of all kinds of maize, including pod corn, 
have buds in their axils, which is the significant point. Whether 
or not these buds develop far enough to be visible externally is a 
quantitative matter. The difference between “one”’ and ‘‘single”’ 
in the quotation (p. 321), describing the pistillate spike of teo- 
sinte, is appreciated, and it is unfortunate that the substitution 
was made. But the bearing of this point upon the evolution of 
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