THE FAMILY-GROUP NAMES BASED ON THE NAME OF THE GENUS ELMIS LATREILLE (COLEOPTERA) George C. Steyskal Systematic Entomolojiy Laboratory, IIBIII, Aj^r. Res. Serv., USDA* ABSTRACT — The names Elminthidae, Helminthidac, etc. are considered unjusti-fied, and the proper stem for family-group names is Ehn-, forming Ehnidae, EHminae, etc. Several authors, some as recent as Deleve (1973), have referred to a family of water-beetles by the name Elminthidae or Helminthidae, although based upon the genus-name Elmis Laterille, cited in the Agassiz, Schulze, and Neave nomenclators as of 1802, but by some authors as of 1798. Steffan (1961) gives a lengthy synonymy of the family name, under the form Elmintliidae, beginning with Elmidae Shuckard and Spry, 1840, and going through Elmissiens Mulsant and Rey, Helmides Grouvelle, Helminthinae Ganglbauer, etc. to Elmidae Sanderson, 1959. There seems substantial agreement that the name proposed by Latreille was Ehnis, and that he referred to it as derived from Greek helmis (classical Latin transcription by me). Inasmuch as the Inter-national Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( Art. 32.a.ii ) does not con-sider incorrect transliteration or improper latinization as a justified basis for emendation, it is clear that the name upon which family-group names should be based is Ehnis and not Helmis or Helmins. I have been able to find the word helmis, from which the name Elmis is derived by transcription without the "rough breathing" in-dicated by the letter h, only in the Liddell and Scott unabridged Greek-English lexicon (Jones, 1940) under helmins, where it is cited as a variant: . . . "also nom. helmis Arist HA602''26; ace. helmiiha IG4.952.10, 18: nom. pi. helmeis Dsc. Eup.2. 67; dat. helmlsi Opp. H.3.180; also gen. hehningos Hp. Epid. l.lQ.ih-. -worm." (my literal transcription ) . This variant is thus declined differently from the usual hehnins, the genitive of which is helminthos in literal transcription and helminthis in classical Latin transcription. Tlie only clues to the stem of the word are in other cases than the genitive (except for the wholly irregular or erroneous hehningos), and in none of the re-corded usages does a stem helminth-occur. Perhaps, from the evi-dence of the accusative helmitha, the word had the genitive stem helmith-(or elmith-), one that apparently has never been used to form family-group names based on Elmis. There is, therefore, no good basis for treating the word otherwise ^ Mail address: c/o U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. 20560. 59
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