PROC. BIOL. SOC. WASH. 93(1), 1980, pp. 168-177 THE GRAMMAR OF FAMILY-GROUP NAMES AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THOSE OF FISHES George C. Steyskal Abstract. — A review of the family-group names cited in Fishes of the World (Nelson, 1976) revealed that 71 of the approximately 900 names were in some way contrary to the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature or Latin grammar. These cases are discussed and corrections given to illustrate cer-tain principles of nomenclatural grammar. The review by Hubbs (1978) of Fishes of the World (Nelson, 1976) sug-gested to me that Nelson's work might serve as the basis of a review of the formation and grammar of family-group names, with the 450 names of fam-ilies of fishes, as well as the equally large number of subfamily, tribal, and suprafamilial names serving as a quite typical example. The availability of such a large part of the family-group names in zoology under one convenient and timely cover serves well the general subject of biological nomenclature, and I hope that the results of this review of the names will promote at least to a small extent the regularity and stability of nomenclature. The current nomenclature of the highest categories of fishes is shown to be no worse and perhaps somewhat better than that of other comparably sized branches of Animalia. I discuss here all cases that I consider to be in need of correction. I found 71 such cases among approximately 900 names. I give reasons for my opinions and mention some cases that are perhaps questionable and discuss them. It is hoped thereby to illustrate many similar cases in other groups of animals. Although the source of the majority of generic and family-group names is classical Greek, the basis of their grammar is Latin, recognized in general in Article 1 1 (b) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and also in Article 29, which concerns the grammatical procedure for forming family-group names based upon the name of a type-genus, sometimes known as a basonym. The group names here discussed are those formed upon a basonym to which suffixes and compounding elements are added. Suffixes are formative elements not derived from a base word. Such are -idae (for families), -inae (for subfamilies), and -ini (for tribes). Compounding elements are based upon a word to which an ending or endings indicating case, number, and gender are added when the compounding element is final in the name. When the element is nonfinal only a combining vowel is usually added to it. The
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