24 CODE OF NOMENCLATURE. 



Canon III. Proper names of groups above genera consist 

 preferably of a single word, taken as a noun and in the nomina- 

 tive plural. 



Remarks. — It seems to the Committee highly desirable that the proper 

 names of groups of whatever grade, down to (but not including) species, 

 should be expressed in one word, to be considered as a nominative plural 

 noun, standing alone, though grammatically, in fact, it may be an adjective 

 or an adjectival form. This would do away witli any change of termination 

 according to gender, depending upon implied agreement with some unex- 

 pressed noun, as Aves, Pisces, etc., and bring all names of groups higher 

 than genera into one grammatical category with single-word generic names, 

 the latter being always in the singular, all the former plural. 



The practice prevails to some extent of naming groups higher than genera 

 in two or even three words ; as, Passeres acromyodi, Oscines sciitelliplan- 

 tares. This usage is chiefly confined to intermediate groups, as super- 

 families or suborders, or those groups of no fixed rank called ' tribes,' or 

 'section?.' While it is not highly objectionable, it is preferably avoided, 

 a single nominative plural noun being considered adequate to meet all the 

 reasonable requirements of such cases. 



Canon IV. Proper names of families uniformly consist of a 

 single word ending in -idee; of subfamilies, of a single word 

 ending in -iiice ; of other groups, of one word or more of no 

 fixed termination. 



Remarks. — The above Canon s^ts forth the now wellnigh universal 

 usage of zoologists as recommended in the following terms by the B. A. 

 Code, 1842: — 



" B. It is recommended that the assemblages of genera termed families 

 should be uniformly named by adding the termination -idee to the earliest 

 known or most typically characterized genus in them ; and that their sub- 

 divisions, termed subfatnilies, should be similarly constructed, with the ter- 

 mination -itlCE. 



" These words are formed by changing the last syllable of the genitive 

 case into -idee or -ince ; as, St fix, Siri^i^is, StrigidcB j Buceros, Bucerotis, 

 Buceroiidcp, not Strixidce, Bitceridcp^ 



It is a frequent misconception, arising perhaps from some confounding 

 of -id(z with -oidcE, — a mistake which at least one of the great dictionaries 

 oc the English language makes throughout, — that -ida is derived from the 

 Greek ciSos, signifying likeness ; but, hke -ince, -idee is simply an adjectival 

 patronymic termination. 



The practical convenience of having a fixed termination of the family and 

 subfamily name respectively is great and obvious. It were much to be 



