RECORDS OF MEETINGS 385 



group through subdivision, the primal group often developing into a 

 phratry. 



Eesearches among the Iroquois of western ISTew York and eastern 

 Canada revealed three types of clan origins. 



Type I. Origin by subdivision. This is seen in the common phencnii- 

 enon of two clans bearing the name of the same animal but distinguished 

 by an adjective. Here it was possible to prove that such clans originally 

 constituted one clan, for they still preserve the same set of individual 

 names. 



Type II. Origin by fusion. A number of instances have come to light 

 in which a Delaware and a Tuscarora clan of the same name, or an 

 Oneida and a Tuscarora clan of the same name, have fused into one clan. 



Type III. Origin from a maternal family. In one instance at least 

 it can be shown that a maternal family consisting of individuals of one 

 direct line of maternal descent, has developed into a clan distinguished 

 as White Bear, whereas the otlier individuals of what was originally the 

 same clan, are known as Black Bears or Bears. 



It will be noted that in origins of types I and II conditions of locality 

 and population must have been determining factors. There are reasons 

 to believe, however, that not one of the above three types of origin rep- 

 resents the origin of clans which was most common in the history of 

 society. I refer to the origin of clans from local groups which develop 

 social solidarity through the exercise of common functions and inter- 

 marry, producing the local distribution of indi'^ddual clans so character- 

 istic of communities having clan or gentile systems. We may designate 

 this type of origin, which has not so far been demonstrated by sufficient 

 concrete data, as type IV. Conditions on the ISToi-thwest Coast make it 

 all but certain that such was the predominant origin of clans in that area. 



However that may be, the above instances, excepting type III, make 

 it clear that the growth and depletion of a population on the one hand, 

 and occupation of the same locality on the other, must have been all 

 important factors in the history of clan origins. 



^f r. Skinner said : The Iowa are divided into seven exogamic gentes, 

 each of which is made up of four subgentes. Chieftainship is hereditary 

 in the royal family of each subgens. The tribal chief is the chief of the 

 Buffalo gens during spring and summer, and of the Bear gens during 

 winter. On the march or hunt a chief is elected each night, his office 

 expiring the following evening. In addition to the gentile system the 

 tribe has three classes or castes: royalt}-, nobility, and commoners, which 

 tend to be endogamous. 



The societies and dances of the Iowa are of four types: military, social, 



