106 R.H.MATHEWS. 



I provisionally call each of the cycles a phratry. Then 

 in studying the upper half or Phratry A of the above table, 

 we see that the women in the "wife" and "daughter" 

 columns reproduce each other in a fixed order. The 

 daughters belong to the same phratry or cycle as their 

 mothers but to a different section of it. For example, 

 Ningulum has a daughter Palyareenya; Palyareenya's 

 daughter is Nooralum ; Nooralum produces Bungareenya ; 

 Bungareenya is the mother of Ningulum, being the section 

 name with which we started, and this series is continually 

 repeated, no matter which name we commence with. Let 

 us designate this series as " Cycle Z." If we take the 

 women in the " Wife " column of Phratry B it is found that 

 Noolum is the mother of Yacomareenya ; Yacomareenya 

 produces Neenum ; Neenum's daughter is Neomarum ; 

 Neomarum has a daughter Noolum. This series also repeats 

 itself for ever and may be distinguished as " Cycle Y." 



It is evident therefore, that the women of a cycle or 

 phratry pass successively through each of the four sections 

 of which it is composed in as many generations, the same 

 section name reappearing in the fifth epoch. If the totems 

 were transmitted directly through the women, they would 

 also remain constantly in the same cycle, and reappear in 

 the same rotation as the women. Comprehensive investi- 

 gations respecting the descent of the totems in the Wombaia 

 tribe and its congeners, however show that the totems do 

 not follow such a law, because the women of a cycle are 

 not coincident with the intermarrying sections shown in 

 Table II. 



In Table I. the husbands, wives, sons and daughters are 

 given on the same line across the page. For example, 

 Choolum marries Ningulum, Jamerum marries Palyareenya 

 and so on for all the others. But extended enquiries reveal 

 the fact that a man of any stated section has potential 



