190 INDEX GENERUM MAMMALIUM. 
and applied names to the groups, and Duméril, in 1806, in his * Zoólo- 
gie Analytique,’ had recognized families in all the classes, and. desig- 
nated them mainly by descriptive names. 
Besides applying names to families in 1806, Latreille had divided 
these groups into minor subdivisions and applied the term tribe (tribu) 
to the chief subdivisions. In 1815 Rafinesque employed the term sub- 
family (sous-famille) with a descriptive name for groups of the same 
relative rank as Latreille’s tribes. The value of these two groups 
caused their ready adoption by other zoologists, and they have come 
into general use. 
To William Kirby, an English entomologist, is due the credit for the 
suggestion that family names should have a uniform ending—‘ ide.’ 
In a paper published in 1815 entitled **Strepsiptera, a New Order of 
Insects Proposed," he says: : 
I think if each order were divided into denominate sections (by which I mean sec- 
tions that have a name) it would be a great improvement, and very much facilitate 
the study of this science. M. Latreille has led the way here and done much for us, 
but as is often the case with new inventions, his system is not sufficiently simple for 
general use; his names, likewise, have not that harmony and uniformity of termina- 
tion which is necessary to make them easily retained by the memory. If we adopted 
patronymic appellation for these sections, for instance, Coleoptera scarabxidx, Coleop- 
tera, staphylinidex, Coleoptera sphacridiadx, Orthoptera gryllidz, etc., it would be liable to 
no objection of this kind.^ 
The advantages of uniformity in distinctive termination are so evi- 
dent that Kirby’s suggestion speedily found favor and was adopted for 
mammals by Gray in 1821 and by Bonaparte in 1831. It is now gen- 
erally accepted; but for many years there was no distinct and uni- 
form termination for each of these groups, different authors being 
governed by different rules. Agassiz made no distinction between fam- 
ilies and subfamilies, but applied the ending ozd:e to names of Greek 
origin, and Z»z to those of Latin origin. Burmeister used zdc, but 
alled the groups thus distinguished subfamilies. Lesson in 1842 
adopted the termination ¢dex; other zoologists used the endings 747 or 
or 2d«, and still others 752 or na. At present, however, uniform ter- 
minations effectually distinguish the family and subfamily from other 
groups and also from each other. The ending c suggested by Kirby 
has been preserved for the family and the corresponding ending Zn is 
applied to the subfamily.^ 
Much less attention has been paid by systematists to higher groups 
than to genera and species. Family names were included in Agassiz’s 


@Trans. Linn. Soc. London, XI, p. 88, 1815. 
^ Blanchard, following Pfeffer, has called attention to the grammatical objections 
to adding the ending id: to Greek words without distinction (Jahrb. Hamburg. 
Wiss. Anstalten, VII, No. 6, 1890). Properly, words of the first and second declen- 
sions ending in os, a, and 7 should have the termination %7dx (short i); those of the 
third declension ending in evs, id (long i); those of the first and second declensions 
ending in 206, za, 75, and as, and those of the third declension in zg and za 5 take tadx; 
while those of the third declension in ws and w take oidx. All other words of the 
