1954] 
Nathan Banks 
83 
sure a broad and equitable consideration of the work of 
his department.’’ 
In 1928, as part of an initial step in the integration of 
the Department of Biology and the research staff of the 
Museum, Banks was appointed Associate Professor of Zo- 
ology. Although he gave no formal lecture course in the 
University, his informal instruction through research 
courses was invaluable to advanced students and became 
of even greater significance a few years later, when gradu- 
ate instruction in entomology was transferred from the 
Bussey Institution at Forest Hills to the Biological Labora- 
tories at Cambridge. In 1941, when additional curators 
were appointed in entomology at the Museum, Banks was 
designated Head Curator of Insects, a title which he held 
until his retirement in 1945, at the age of 76. 
Banks remained active for a few years after his retire- 
ment, working chiefly on the preparation of a catalogue 
of literature on the habits of insects, but his strength 
gradually failed him. He died at his home in Holliston, 
Massachusetts, on January 24, 1953, at the age of 84. He 
is survived by his wife (nee Mary A. Lu Gar) and eight 
children. 
The contributions made by Banks through his publica- 
tions are truly impressive. His bibliography, given below, 
includes 440 technical papers, on many aspects of ento- 
mology. The majority of his early publications, from 
1890 to 1900, were on arachnids, but most of his later ones 
dealt with the insect orders Trichoptera, Mecoptera, Neu- 
roptera, Perlaria and Psocoptera, on all of which he was 
a world authority. 
Banks was a good collector, but he was too occupied 
with the Museum duties to make extensive trips. In 1906 
he collected in the vicinity of the Black Mts., in North 
Carolina; in 1924 he made his longest field trip — to Barro 
Colorado Island, in the Canal Zone; in 1931 he made a 
collecting trip to the Smoky Mts., accompanied by his son 
Gilbert, and P. J. Darlington, Jr., and F. M. Carpenter. 
He also made extensive collections in the vicinity of his 
home; the collections at the Museum contain many thou- 
sands of specimens from Sea Cliff, New York; Falls 
