The author refers to actual events which occurred in the past two or three generations among primitive tribes in Central Australia which support the theory that the primal horde type of organization, or something similar to it, has survived under primitive conditions up to the recent past. In various communities there were men who practiced incest with classificatory and real incestuous objects, until the deaths of these men were brought about by a general tribal conspiracy.

Although in Central Australia incest is the greatest crime against the social order, in certain districts chiefs still are said to live with their daughters. In some of the myths it is permissible for them to marry women of various forbidden degrees. Róheim concludes that in such areas of the world the 'primal father who keeps all the women to himself as long as he can may be a thing of the recent past', and that 'a period of oscillation between the law and the will of the father', as described in the myths, actually occurred.