Nathan Banks
Nathan Banks was an American entomologist noted for his work on Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Hymenoptera, and Acarina. He started work on mites in 1880 with the USDA. In 1915 he authored the first comprehensive English handbook on mites: A Treatise on the Acarina, Or Mites.
Banks left the USDA in 1916 to work at the Museum of Comparative Zoology where he did further work on Hymenoptera, Arachnida and Neuroptera. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1922.
In 1924, he spent about two months in Panama, through kindness of Dr. Thomas Barbour 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.
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.
