life.[1] The attention given this subject by many writers elevates it to one of great theoretical importance, but so far the phenomenon of age-graded societies appears in the New World only in the bison area. Lowie,[2] who is the most recent student of this subject, makes a good case for its independent origin in this small locality, suggesting that it is here at least merely the accidental outgrowth of the more fundamental tendency to segregate according to age.
TOTEMIC FEATURES
There is one aspect of social grouping that deserves further notice, even in such a brief account as this. The terms totem and totemism have come to stand for a distinct body of literature and indicate a respectable complex of sociological theory. If, for example, we review the recognized names people give to their clans and gentes, most of them are seen to be derived from the names for animals. Thus Morgan,[3] the great pioneer in this field, finds the Iroquois to have the following clans: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk.
Similar naming systems are found among nearly all the clan peoples of North America, but it is not so clear that this is equally true of those having gentes.
The significant point, however, is taken to be the meaning of this animal name. In almost every case it can be explained only by the mythical narrative accounting for the origin of the group in question, which deals with an animal-like being to whom the origin of the organization is ascribed, if indeed this being is not the true initial parent. The result is that if this being should be in some way associated with the black bear, for example, the people of the group would call themselves the black bear clan and would look upon all such bears as related to them. In short, the bear, or a bear, would come to be the totem of the group.[4] As the discussion of this subject will require some data on religion and mythology, we may best postpone its further consideration.
Our previous citations of the associations between marriage restrictions and the clan-gens system may prepare us for
