ANNOTATED, SUBJECT-HEADING 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TERMITES 



1350 B.C. TO A.D. 1954 



By THOMAS E. SNYDER 

 Washington, D.C. 



INTRODUCTION 



As early as 1350 B.C. (Dow, 1915), the Rig Vedas referred in Sanskrit to "ghuna" 

 as destroyers of wood, and these were probably termites. The animals of India were 

 known to the early B.C. Greek authors. Pliny in his Natural History of the World, 

 77 A.D., in a manner similar to his other "facts," discusses Indian "pissmires," which 

 may be "white ants" or ants. Hagen in 1855 gives a historical summary of these early 

 accounts of termites. 



A bibliography of the Isoptera (1758-1949), Griffin, 195 1, has been used in this work. 

 Like Griffin, I have not included some of the articles listed in the Review of Applied 

 Entomology (series A), or in the Index of American Economic Entomology, where 

 papers on termites are also referred to under subject headings. 



The bibliography is partly selective. Taxonomic articles published since 1949, when 

 my Catalog of Termites of the World was published, are included, but not those papers 

 referred to in that catalog unless subjects other than taxonomy are discussed. This 

 bibliography includes papers through 1954, with some of 1955. A total of 3,624 references 

 are included. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This bibliography was begun in 1909 when I was in the Division of Forest Insects, 

 Bureau of Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture; work was continued until I 

 retired in 1951. Since then, most of the annotations have been made, and much more 

 time has been available to complete it. 



Dr. Alfred E. Emerson of the University of Chicago has supplied many references, 

 especially those relating to taxonomy and biology. 



Librarians, bibliographers, and translators of the Department of Agriculture, librarians 

 of the U.S. National Museum, and my wife have all given help in its preparation. 



Funds for typing the manuscript were kindly furnished by Dr. Frederick CunliiTe, 

 Director, Pinellas Biological Laboratory, Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla. 



A grant from the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C, has assisted the 

 Smithsonian Institution in publishing the bibliography. Editors of the Smithsonian 

 have been very helpful. 



Grateful acknowledgment is made to the E. L. Bruce Co., of Memphis, Tenn., for a 

 grant applied toward the costs of preparing this paper for the printer. 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL 130, WHOLE VOLUME 



