A recent model for polarity reversals suggested that reversals involve critical interactions between primary (dipole) and secondary (quadrupole) dynamo families. This model predicted that the relative secondary family contribution to the field would be smaller when the reversal rate is low than when the reversal rate is high. In particular, therefore, it was predicted that the contribution from the secondary family would have been low during the cretaceous Normal Superchron. This prediction is tested using model G for the paleosecular variation of lavas to estimate the relative contributions of the two families back through time. It is found that the data support the prediction. It is also found that a decrease in the contribution from the secondary family is associated with an increase in the contribution from the primary family, and vice versa. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1991