Randy, the passage in the article you quote is potentially confusing because it uses examples from both botany and zoölogy. You focused on the very aspect in which botany and zoölogy differ. The way botanists and zoologists treat these endings is not the same. Zoölogy uses a single -i where botany uses -ii (there are exceptions in botany, for instance words ending in -y get a single -i ending). The number of letters "i" at the end of the word does not indicate the importance of the honoree. Randy, read p. 286 et seq. of Stearn's Botanical Latin, where you will also read about a failed attempt to provide a way of indicating different levels of honor in these names. . Jim McKenney