Nathan Banks (April 13, 1868 – January 24, 1953) was an American

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

noted for his work on Neuroptera, Megaloptera,

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

, and

Acarina Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evi ...

(mites). He started work on mites in 1880 with the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

. In 1915 he authored the first comprehensive English handbook on mites: ''A Treatise on the Acarina, Or Mites'' (Smithsonian Institution, Proceedings Of The United States National Museum, 1905, 114 pages). Banks left the USDA in 1916 to work at the

Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

(MCZ) where he did further work on

Arachnida Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...

and Neuroptera. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1922. In 1924, he spent about two months in Panama, through kindness of Dr.

Thomas Barbour Thomas Barbour (August 19, 1884 – January 8, 1946) was an American herpetologist. From 1927 until 1946, he was director of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) founded in 1859 by Louis Agassiz at Harvard University in Cambridge, ...

and in company with Dr. W.M. Wheeler. Between mid June and mid August they divided time between forested regions on Barro Colorado Island and more open habitat at various points along the railroad in the vicinity of Panama City (See Banks, 1929 "Spiders of Panama" for details). He authored more than 440 technical works over the years 1890 to 1951. He was married to Mary A. Lu Gar and they had eight children. (One son was named Gilbert, but no other offspring are known by name.)

References

* Carpenter, F. M. & P. J. Darlington, Jr. 1954. Nathan Banks, A biographic sketch and list of publications. ''Psyche'', vol. 61, pp. 81–110.

External links

PDF linked here

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��representative publications by Banks on neuroptera and megaloptera—accessed 25 April 2007
MCZ Entomology Department
��discusses work on hymenoptera—accessed 25 April 2007 * * 1868 births 1953 deaths People from Roslyn, New York American entomologists American arachnologists Hymenopterists Cornell University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from New York (state) {{US-entomologist-stub