These perplexities are caused by a vague terminology, and occurred naturally in a book of 1870, as they do in Mr. McLennan’s own pioneer works. But in 1903 we must try to aim at closer and more exact distinctions and definitions, though we are still retarded and perplexed by the lack of truly scientific nomenclature. As far as I can perceive, Lord Avebury is apt to use ‘family,’ ‘tribe,’ ‘clan,’ and ‘_gens_’ as equivalents, while each of them, in various places, appears to be understood as denoting a totem kindred. Thus (p. 181) ‘under a system of female descent combined with exogamy a man must marry out of his tribe,’ where ‘tribe’ seems to mean ‘totem kin.’ Compare p. 187: ‘another general rule, in America as elsewhere, is that no one may marry within his own clan or family,’ where ‘clan or family’ like ‘tribe’ seems to mean ‘totem kin.’ This use of terms makes it difficult for me to feel sure that I apprehend Lord Avebury’s theory correctly. However I take it to be that, originally,’very small communities’ (‘tribes’) lived in ‘communal marriage.’ Nobody knew who was the son of what father or of what mother, though, in a very small community one would expect the senior vigorous male or males to prevent son-and-mother, or brother-and-sister unions, by force, out of natural jealousy. This was not done, but some males wanted wives to themselves in private property, and got them by capture, paying ‘compensation’ in the license of the bridal night. But a man might fall in love with a lass in his own ‘tribe’ (‘very small community’) and want to keep _her_ to himself (p. 111). ‘Hence would naturally arise a desire on the part of many to extend the right of capture, which originally had reference only to women of a different tribe, and to apply it to all those belonging to their own.’ Is ‘tribe’ still used of ‘a very small community,’ or is it here employed in the now more prevalent and much wider sense? If not, is the ‘capture’ now a mere ceremonial formula? Apparently ‘tribe,’ now and here, does mean (as elsewhere it does not) a large local aggregate, for we are next told of ‘the division of Australian tribes into classes or gentes’ (though a ‘class’ is one thing and a _gens_, if totem kin is meant, is another thing), and of the ‘1,000 miles of wives,’ who, by the theory, are _not_ individual wives of individual men. Such wives, special rights in such wives, were acquired ‘originally by right of capture.’