Excerpt from The Matrilineal Complex To return to the general problem for a summary of results based on an empirical survey. The theory of a matrilineal society which by some necessity produces out of itself a series of features whose presence in turn may be used to establish the existence of such a society in the present or past is untenable. It ignores two vital groups of empirical phenomena - the frequent absence of the supposed symptoms among undoubtedly matrilineal peoples, and the enormous extent of borrowing, which accounts far more satisfactorily than the survival hypothesis for the occurrence of the avunculate amidst patrilineal institutions. Some degree of correlation between matronymy and matrilocalism or the avunculate may be accepted, but everything points to the conclusion that the connection is a far more intricate one than is commonly supposed. Here again discrimination is a prerequisite to a sane envisaging of the problem. The degree of correlation need not be the same for all of the supposed constituents. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.