re named Dilbi and
Kupathin; Dilbi is divided into two classes, Muri and Kubi; Kupathin
into Kumbo and Ipai. The Dilbi totems, which may belong to either of the
classes, are kangaroo, opossum and iguana; those of Kupathin are emu,
bandicoot and black snake. Every member of the tribe has his own
phratry, class and totem; these all come to him by descent.

We have little or no information as to the local grouping of the
Kamilaroi tribes, but it was possibly not unlike that of some of the
tribes to the north-west. In the case of the latter the tribal area was
some 3000 sq. miles in extent, it was split up into smaller areas,
thirty or more in number, which were the property of the local groups; a
local group consisted frequently of three generations of relatives. When
we come to deal below with marriage regulations it will be shown that
husband, wife and child under the four-class system all belong to
different classes; there were therefore in each group at least three
classes, if not four, and consequently members of two phratries. If we
assume that the same conditions prevailed among the Kamilaroi, the local
groups would then be made up of members of both the Dilbi and Kupathin
phratries; and probably all four classes, Muri, Kubi, Ipai and Kumbo,
would be found in each group, which in Australia varied in size
according to local conditions from 20 or 30 to 200; under special
conditions, such as prevailed in the neighbourhood of Lake Alexandrina,
the number might run up to 600 or more, but this was exceptional.

From the fact that the totems are divided between the phratries it is
clear that the local group may also have members of all the six totem
kins mentioned above, among its members.

The rules by which marriage and descent are regulated are apparently
very complicated but practically very simple. Taking the Kamilaroi tribe
again, the rule is that Muri marries Butha (a female Kumbo) and their
children are Ipai and Ipatha: Kubi marries Ipatha and their children are
Kumbo and Butha; in each case the children belong to the same phratry as
the mother but to the other class in that phratry. This is termed
indirect matrilineal descent.

The rule of descent for the totem among the Kamilaroi was simpler;
membership of a totem kin descends directly from a mother to her child.
The combined effect of these rules is that if, for example, a male Dilbi
of the Muri class and iguana totem wants to marry, he must choose a wife
of