ANIMAL AGGREGATIONS AND SOCIAL LIFE 347 



dealing with the sex relations of non-human anthropoids and of 

 man. Miller concludes that a precultural gregariousness, not sexual- 

 ly conditioned, but including sexual promiscuity, existed among 

 early man and has influenced the course of development of human 

 institutions. He emphasizes observations on the higher primates 

 which indicate sexual promiscuity in horde hfe rather than family 

 organization whether of the polygamous or monogamous type. 



Such observations give point to the strongly intrenched system of 

 human taboos and laws which are directed against promiscuous 

 horde sex-relations, and bear out the theory that these taboos and 

 laws are in themselves a universal, tacit recognition of the fact that 

 such promiscuous tendencies are strong enough to be a menace to 

 human society as now organized. The firm hold of the tendency 

 toward promiscuity among modern men even under these taboos 

 and laws is witnessed by the prosperous condition of prostitution, 

 which from this point of view is a lusty survivor from primitive 

 horde Hfe rather than a recent development conditioned by modern 

 economic or other social pressure. The high percentage of occur- 

 rence of gonorrhea and syphilis, diseases not excessively easy to 

 acquire, also bears evidence that the sexual behavior of man, at 

 least as shown under the prevaihng Europeo- American civilization, 

 consists in part of elements which cannot be distinguished from the 

 activities which Miller thinks are characteristic of the ape horde. 



While there are many indications that horde life stands in the 

 remote human background, it appears that other anthropoids than 

 man have made the transition to some sort of family life. Yerkes 

 (1929), after commenting frequently on the incompleteness and 

 uncertainty of our knowledge of the social traits of the great apes, 

 concludes his detailed presentation of existing evidence as follows: 



"Gregariousness and degree of dependence of the individual on 

 the group tend from lemur to man to diminish, and at the same time 

 to give place to a more definite and stable social unit, the family. 

 There is a great diversity within the several types. Lemurs and 

 their kind may live in bands or as mated pairs. Monkeys almost 

 invariably constitute bands, as do also gibbons and siamang, but 

 by contrast the anthropoid apes live either as famihes or in groups 



