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Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53 (1982)

Chapter: Alfred Edwards Emerson

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Suggested Citation:"Alfred Edwards Emerson." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON December31, 1896-October3, 1976 BY EDWARD O. WILSON AND CHARLES D. MICHENER SOMETHING ABOUT ants, termites, and other social insects attracts generalists, scholars who begin with a deep inter- est in basic entomology, or else acquire it, and who restlessly probe far beyond into such fields as evolutionary theory, biogeography, the history of science, and philosophy while conducting otherwise ordinary research. In the eighteenth century it was Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur; in the nineteenth century, John Lubbock, Auguste Forel, and that famous amateur myrmecologist, Charles Darwin. In our own time William Morton Wheeler has been followed by Karl von Frisch, Cary! P. Haskins, and Theodore D. SchneirIa. Into the last group must be placer! Alfred E. Emerson. Until his cleath he was the leacling authority on termites, a restless technical expert who contributed massively to their classification, anatomy, and biogeography. He was also an important contributor to modern ecology, one of the synthe- sizers of the 1940's and 1950's who brought the large quan- tities of new data on adaptation, physiology, behavior, and distribution into line with the emerging principles of the "New Synthesis" of evolutionary theory. He was a biogeog- rapher of importance; his cietailecI knowlecige of the worIc! distribution of genera and species of termites helpec! bring insects into the mainstream of general theory in biogeog- 159

160 . BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS raphy. Ant! not least, Emerson cleveloped the concept of the superorganism to its extreme degree on the basis of his knowledge of the workings of termite colonies; in the course of this effort he helped to establish the importance of be- havioral traits in classification ant! phylogenetic reconstruc- tions. Alfrec! Emerson was born in Ithaca, New York on De- cember 3 I, IS96, the youngest of four children of a Cornell professor of classical archeology. He moved with his family to Chicago in 1905 when his father became curator of antiqui- ties at the Art Institute of the University of Chicago. His mother was a professional concert pianist and instructor in the history of music at the University of Chicago; his brother ant! two sisters all enjoyed successful academic careers. One sister, Gertrude, became editor of Asia Magazine, settIec3 in India, and was responsible for drawing Emerson into a friendship with Indira Gandhi later in his life. In the midst of this rich early cultural environment, with its emphasis on the humanities, Emerson flirted briefly with the idea of a career in music. Then, while a student at the InterIaken School in Rolling Prairie, Incliana ~~9~O-l914), he built and ran the school poultry farm the first odd circumstance In a train of events that led to his career as an entomologist. He was to become the family's scientific "mu- tant," as he later (lescribecl himself. Upon reaching college age in 1914, he went to Cornell University with the intention of specializing in poultry science. But the courses were too elementary and clull, causing him to try out the beginning course in each science department of the university in turn. When the time came to choose a major subject in his junior year, Emerson picked entomology, principally as he once said because the Department of Entomology was at that time the best of its king] in the world. He became the personal

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 161 frienc! of John H. Comstock and his wife, Anna Botsford Comstock, as well as of James G. Needham, all large figures in the history of the field. The Cornell entomologists stressed depth of training and (letaile(1 expertise in individual groups of insects, and Emerson clearly benefited from this experi- ence through all of his subsequent research. At the same time he formed a close friendship with another student, the her- petologist Karl P. Schmidt, who later became curator-in-chief of zoology at the Chicago Natural History Museum ant! a fellow member of the National Academy of Sciences. While at Cornell Emerson met his first wife, Winifred Jelliffe, the (laughter of Smith Ely Jelliffe, a leading psy- chiatrist. The couple became engaged in 1918, and soon af- terwarct Emerson left for nine months service in the army (clischarged in December, he did not see combat). Next Emerson made a trip to the New York Zoological Station at Kartabo, British Guiana, where, at the suggestion of William Beebe, he began stuclying termites, anc! thus began his life's work. In 1920, as Emerson completect his M.A. at Cornell, he married Winifred and took her on his second! trip to Kartabo. A third expedition to British Guiana followed in 1924 and then a six-month sojourn on Barro Coloracto Island, Panama, in 1935. The termite collections that Emerson assembled and the experience he obtained during these early visits to the American tropics were a rich source of data and ideas on which he drew during the rest of his life. In 1921 Emerson acceptec! an instructorship at the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh. After completing the requirements for a Ph.D. at Cornell in 1925, he held a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1925 and 1926 and then an associate professorship at the University of Chicago. There he stayed for the remainder of his professional career. The new associations that he formed

162 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS at Chicago were decisive in the broadening of his interests and the achievement of theoretical contributions in ecology ant! behavior. During the 1920's the Emersons had two chilciren: Helena, who became the wife of Eugene Wilkening, a pro- fessor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin; and William ~elliffe Emerson, employed in the Department of Anatomy of the University of Chicago. In 1949, following a summer in which Alfred served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Winifred diec! suddenly from the effects of a heart defect acquired during childhood. In 1950 Emerson married Eleanor Fish, whom he hac! known for years and with whom he had collaborates! on a children's book, Termite City (19371. Those of us who knew this couple in later years were impresser! by the closeness en c! warmth of their marriage. By his own testimony, Alfred Emerson's principal contri- bution to science was the more than one hundrec! articles that aclded vastly to our knowledge of the systematics, phylogeny, distribution, and natural history of termites around the worm. In fact, he may well have been the most productive researcher on this subject who ever livecI. By 1969, 1,914 species of termites had been clescribed by termitologists. Emerson's collection, which was (lonated to the American Museum of Natural History, container! about one million specimens representing 1,745 species, or 91 percent of the known worIc! fauna. No less than 80 percent of the species are . represented by primary type specimens. His personal library on termites is virtually complete to the late 1960's, constitut- ing an important bequest to future investigators. Emerson remained active right through the later years of his life, as evidenced by his excellent review of the Mastotermiticiae (1965), description of the first Mesozoic termite (1967), re- views of the fossil Kalotermiticiae (1965) and l~hinotermiti-

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 163 dae (1971), and analysis (with Kumar Krishna) of the rare and little known Serritermitidae. Emerson's carefully re- searched and cautious studies are the most authoritative sources of information'on the classification and evolutionary biology of the termites. His monographs on the termites of Kartabo and the BeIgian Congo (Zaire) and Cameroon re- main after many years the most valuable field guides for entire tropical faunas. They are so well written and illustrated as to be useful to anyone with an elementary knowledge of entomology. In ~ 949 Emerson coauthored the major synthetic work on ecology to that time, Principles of Animal Ecology, an influential textbook known lightly among students and other biologists as the "The Great AEPPS" after the initials of the authors' last names (W. C. Allee, A. E. Emerson, Orlando Park, Thomas Park, and Karl P. Schmidt). This massive work col- lected much of what was known about animal ecology at that time, making full use of current evolutionary theory and the still fragmentary principles of population biology. Emerson's main contribution was to summarize knowledge of the social insects, demonstrating with numerous examples the diverse and often bizarre ways that features of social behavior adapt species to particular challenges in the environment. In gen- eral, Principles of Animal Ecology stimulated a great deal of rigorous research in ecology and helped set the stage for the surge in population and community ecology that occurred during the 1950's and 1960's. (A commentary on Emerson's eminence as an ecologist was published by T. Park in 1967 [Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 48: ~04-7].) Emer- son's scholarly treatment of the social insects was the best since the monographs by W. M. Wheeler twenty years pre- viously, and they helped to keep these creatures in the midst of developments in the major topics of ecology and the remainder of evolutionary theory. .

164 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS On top of Emerson's cumulative work concerning ter- mites, his most striking single contribution, in the opinion of many, was his use of behavioral traits as taxonomic char- acters. Emerson referred to the structure of termite nests as "frozen behavior" that could be weighed anct sketched with the same reliability and quantity of information as many ana- tomical traits. He showed that certain species of Apicotermes can be distinguishes! more reactily by the architecture of their nests than by the anatomy of the termites themselves. His case seems exceptionally strong today, because termites have rela- tively complex, stereotyped behavior, anct as subsequent in- vestigators have shown, these insects use nest structure to regulate the microclimate of the colony. It is fair to say that what Konrad Lorenz and other vertebrate ethologists clid for the use of behavior in bird systematics, Emerson helped to accomplish for the use of behavior in the systematics of ter- mites and other social insects. Alfrec! Emerson is also well known for his espousal of the superorganism concept, in which the castes anc! functions of the insect colony are compared with the anatomical and phys- iological features of single organisms. This method! of anal- ogy, first put in concrete form by Wheeler and highly popu- lar in the first half of the century, was perhaps carried to its extreme by Emerson. He saw in the social insects the exempli- fication of"clynamic homeostasis," which he believed to be a new unifying principle of evolutionary theory. This part of Emerson's thought has had relatively little impact, principally because during the period of his most assertive articles (1952-1958) the pendulum had begun to swing away from holistic conceptualization and toward piecemeal, experi- mental analysis of indiviclual physiological mechanisms and patterns of behavior. But at the very least, however much out of focus, and even cluring this period of its waning, the super- organism concept remained} a stimulating distant goal toward

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 165 which many younger entomologists felt themselves to be working. In spite of being a harci-working scholar in an exacting specialty, Emerson was a gregarious man, exceptionally gen- erous with his energies and time. He was friendly not only with his intellectually gifted associates, but also with less gifted persons with whom he willingly discussed everyday topics. He wrote long letters of advice and encouragement to younger entomologists, never displaying the protectiveness or hardening of opinion that afflicts some established scien- tists. in different years he served as president of the Ecolog- ical Society of America, the Society for the Stucly of Evolu- tion, and the Society for Systematic Entomology and was a vice-president of the Entomological Society of America. Among his honors were an honorary D.Sc. from Michigan State University in 1961, received after his service as a dis- tinguished visiting professor in 1960, and the Eminent Ecol- ogist Award for 1967 from the Ecological Society of America. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1962. On Sunday, October 3, 1976, Alfrec] Emerson diec] of a heart attack near his summer home at Huletts Landing, on Lake George, New York. He will be remembered for the magnitude and rigor of his scholarship, his uncompromising and lifelong devotion to science, his interest in the relevance of science to humane learning, and, especially by those who knew him best, the largeness and generosity of his spirit.

166 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS BIBLIOGRAPHY 1917 A willy-nilly stepmother and other disasters. Nat. Stud. Rev., 13: 198-99. 1919 Termites of Kartabo. Bull. N.Y. Zool. Soc., 22:75-77 1 923 . A new termite from the Juan Fernandez Islands. In: The Natural History of the Juan Fernandez and Easter Island, ed. C. Skottsberg, vol. 3, pp. 392-94. Uppsala, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksells AB. 1 924 Social evolution among insects. Radio Publ. no. 8, Univ. of Pitts- burgh, pp. 23-29. 1925 The termites of Kartabo, Bartica District, British Guiana. Zoolog- ica, 6:29 1-459. The jungle laboratory of tropical biology conducted by the Univer- sity of Pittsburgh. Science, 61~1576~:281. 1 926 Development of a soldier of Nasutitermes (Constr7ctotermes) cavifrons (Holmgren) and its phylogenetic significance. Zoologica, 7: 69-100. 1927 The phylogenetic origin of the sterile castes of termites. Anat. Rec., 37: 148-49(A). Invertebrates. Classroom Teacher, 9:345-412. A pioneer student of the ants. New Repub., 50:25-26. 1 928 Termites of the Belgian Congo and the Cameroon. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 57:401-574.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 167 Le developpement des soldats termites. Ann. Sci. Nat., 10 ser., 1 1:26 1-84. Polymorphism among the castes of termites. Anat. Rec., 41: 48-49(A). With R. T. Hance. Laboratory Experiments in General Zoology. Pitts- burgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press. 64 pp. 1 929 Ecological relationships between termites and termitophiles in Brit- ish Guiana. Tenth International Congress of Zoology, p. 1008. Budapest, Hungary: Stephaneum. Termite problems in California, pp. 12-14; The social life of ter- mites, pp. 24-30. In: Report on the Symposium on Termite Problems of the Termite Investigations Committee, September 2-13, 1929. San Francisco: Termite Investigations Committee. 42 pp. Communication among termites. In: Transactions of the Fourth Inter- national Congress of Entomology, (Ithaca, New York), vol. 2, pp. 722-27. Naumburg, Germany: Gottfr. Patz. With R. C. Simpson. Apparatus for the detection of substratum communication among termites. Science, 69~17991:648-49. 1931 Second Year College Sequence in Botany, Zoology, and Physiology. Syllabus for Zoology. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Bookstore. 45 pp. With M. C. Coulter, O. Park, T. Park, and K. P. Schmidt. Inverte- brates, pp. 35-80; Animals in relation to their environment, pp. 312-22; Animal geography, pp. 322-24; Animal society, pp. 337-39. In: Introductory General Course in the Biological Sciences Syllabus. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Bookstore. 1933 A revision of the genera of fossil and recent Termopsinae (Isoptera). Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol., 6:165-96. The mechanism of tandem behavior following the colonizing flight of termites. Anat. Rec., 57:61-62(A). Conditioned behavior among termites. Psyche, 40:125-29. Protective coloration. Ecology, 14:407.

168 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1934 Biology of termites. Ecology, 15: 20~5. Termitophile distribution and quantitative characters as indicators of physiological speciation in British Guiana termites (Isoptera). Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am., 15:4~41(A). Entomological apparatus. Ecology, 15:444. The ecology of insects. Ecology, 15:44~45. 1935 Symbiosis between roaches and protozoa. Ecology, 16: 11 ~ 17. Termitophile distribution and quantitative characters as indicators of physiological speciation in British Guiana termites (Isoptera). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am., 28:369-95. 1936 Termites. Ecology, 17:302-3. Distributionoftermites.Science,83~2157~:410~11. A marine estuary. Ecology, 17:170. Mayflies. Ecology, 17:303. Insects of shade-trees. Ecology, 17:303. Evolution and speciation. Ecology, 17: 532-34. 1937 Termite nests a study of the phylogeny of behavior. Science, 85:56(A). The preparation of scientific papers. Ecology, 18:154-55. Speciation. Ecology, 18: 153-54. Life of the termite. Sci. Dig., 2:55-58. Termite nests a study of the phylogeny of behavior. Anat. Rec., 70: 137(A). The living world. Ecology, 18:441-42. Ecological animal geography. Ecology, 1 8: 54 1 - 2. Termite architecture. Nat. Hist., 39:241-48. The termite problem. Nat. Hist., 39:249-54. Termite nests a study of the phylogeny of behavior. Entomol. News, 48:20. With Eleanor Fish. Termite City. Chicago: Rand McNally. 127 pp.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 1938 169 The origin of species. Ecology, 19:152-54. Termite nests—a study of the phylogeny of behavior. Ecol. Monogr., 8:247-84. Termites—insect architects. Sci. Dig., 3:52-56. 1939 Social coordination and the superorganism. Am. Midl. Nat., 2 1: 1 82-209. (Reprinted in: Plant and Animal Communities, ed. T. lust. Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame Univ. Press. 255 pp.) Populations of social insects. Ecol. Monogr., 9:287-300. Animal societies viewed as super-organisms. Sci. Dig., 4:96. Animal ecology. Ecology, 20:426. A laboratory guide to the classification and ecology of animals. Ecology, 20:427. Ants and men. Ecology, 20:427. 1940 Review of I. Huxley, The New Systematics. Bot. Gaz., 102:412. Objects of the Society for the Study of Speciation. Mimeographed. 16 pp. A critical review of I. Huxley, The New Systematics. Mimeographed. pp. 17-29. 1941 Taxonomy and ecology. Ecology, 22 :213- 15. Biological sociology. Denison Univ. Bull. J. Sci. Lab., 36:146-55. The Society for the Study of Speciation. Am. Nat., 75:86-89. With Bertha M. Parker. Insect Societies. Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peter- son and Co. 36 pp. 1942 Ecology and evolution. Chron. Bot., 7:151-52. Basic comparisons of human and insect societies. Biol. Symp., 8: 163-76. The relations of a relict South African termite (Isoptera, Hodoter- mitidae, Stolotermes ). Am. Mus. Novit., 1 1 87: 1-1 2. The dynamics of evolution. Ecology, 23:493. The modern naturalist. Transylvania Coll. Bull., 15:71-77.

170 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1943 Ecology, evolution and society. Am. Nat., 77 :97-118. Review of O. Park. A study of Neotropical Pselaphidae. North- western Univ. Alumni News, 22:1. Taxonomy and ecology of Pselaphid beetles. Ecology, 24:132. Kalotermes miller), a new species of termite from the Florida Keys and Jamaica (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae). Psyche, 50:18-22. Systematics and speciation. Ecology, 24:412- 13. With E. M. Miller. A key to the termites of Florida. Entomol. News, 54: 184-87. (Also in: Proc. Florida Acad. Sci., 6: 108-9, 1945.) 1944 Australian termites. Ecology, 25: 123-24. Frank Eugene Lutz (obituary). Science, 99:233-34. 1945 Taxonomic categories and population genetics. Entomol. News, 56: 1~19. The Neotropical genus Syntermes (Isoptera: Termitidae). Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 83:427-71. Co-operation and conflict in the balance of nature. Lecture, Nov.9, 1945, Univ. of Chicago. Mimeographed. With R. W. Gerard. Extrapolation from the biological to the social. Science, 101: 582-85. 1947 The biological basis of social cooperation. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci., 39:9-18. Why termites? Sci. Mon., 64:iv; 337-45. The imago of Stolotermes africanus Emerson. I. Entomol. Soc. South. Afr., 9:127-29. 1948 Biological principles of human social integration. Intercul. Ed. News, 9:8-9. 1949 Termite studies in the Belgian Congo. Extrait Deuxieme Rapp. Ann., Inst. Rech. Sci. Afr. Centr.: 149-59.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 171 Devescovinid flagellates of termites. V. The genus Hyperdevescovina and the genus Bullanympha, and undescribed or unrecorded species. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zoology, 45~51:319-422. With W. C. Allee, O. Park, T. Park, and K. P. Schmidt. Principles of Animal Ecology. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co. 837 pp. 1950 Five new genera of termites from South America and Madagascar (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae, Termitidae). Am. Mus. Novit., 1444: 1-15. Learning from termites. Broadcast no. 28889, Columbia Broad- casting System, CPN. KNX, Los Angeles; KCBS, San Francisco, Jan. 15, 1950. 1951 Termite studies in the Belgian Congo. Deuxieme Rapp. Ann. 1949, Inst. Rech. Sci. Afr. Centr.: 149~0. 1952 The biogeography of termites. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 99: 217-25. The Neotropical genera Procornitermes and Cornitermes (Isoptera, Termitidae). Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 99:475-540. Social homeostasis and the evolution of a microhabitat. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am., 33:51(A) Phylogeny of social behavior as illustrated by the termite genus Apicotermes. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am., 33:66. Also in: Anat. Rec. 113:38(A). The supraorganismic aspects of the society. In: Structure et Physiolo- gie des Societes animales. Colloq. Int. C. N. R. S., no. 34, pp. 333-54. 1953 The biological foundations of ethics and social progress. In: Goals of Economic Life, ed. A. D. Ward, pp. 277-304. New York: Harper and Bros. The African genus Apicotermes (Isoptera: Termitidae). Ann. Mus. R. Congo Belge, ser. 8, Sci. Zool., 17:99-121.

172 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Evolution of social behavior as illustrated by the termite genus Apicotermes. Proc. 8th Ann. Meeting North Central States Branch, American Entomological Society, p. 39(A). 1954 The relation of systematics to other fields. Ecology, 35:102-3. Dynamic homeostasis: a unifying principle in organic, social, and ethical evolution. Sci. Mon., 78:67-85. Social insects. Ecology, 35:428. 1955 Species—biological species. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Geographical origins and dispersions of termite genera. Fieldiana: Zool., 37:465-521. Sewall Wright. Bull. Alumni Assoc., School of Medicine, Univ. Chicago, 11: 19. Ecology and Evolution (in Japanese). Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo, 248 pp. With Thomas Park. Warder Clyde Allee: Ecologist and ethologist. Science, 121~3150~:68~87. 1956 Regenerative behavior and social homeostasis of termites. Ecology, 37:248-58. Homeostasis and comparison of systems. In: Toward a Unified The- ory of Human Behavior, ed. R. R. Grinker, pp.147-63. New York: Basic Books. A new species of Apicotermes from Katanga. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 53:98-101. Ethospecies, ethotypes, taxonomy, and evolution of ~4picotermes and al llognathotermes (Isoptera: Termitidae). Am. Mus. Novit., 1771: 1-31. Procedure in taxonomy. Science, 124: 1213. 1957 Homology. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. l l, pp.708-9. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. With Frank A. Banks. Five new species and one redescription of the Neotropical genus ilrmitermes Wasmann (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1 84 1: 1-1 7.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 1958 173 Review of P. J. Darlington, fir., Zoogeography: The Geographical Distri- bution of Animals. Science, 127:969. Review of C. P. Martin, Psychology, Evolution and Sex. Science 127:1111. K. P. Schmidt- Herpetologist, ecologist, zoogeographer. Science, 127:1162-63. The evolution of behavior among social insects. In: Behavior and Evolution, ed. Anne Roe and G. G. Simpson, pp. 311-55. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press. The termite problem. In: Illustrated Library of the Natural Sciences, ed. E. M. Weyer, vol. 4, pp. 2798-2807. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1959 Social insects. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 20, pp. 871-78. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Beebe, (Charles) William. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol.3, p.309. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. The African termite genera Firmitermes, Hoplognathotermes, Acuti- dentitermes, Duplidentitermes, and Heimitermes (Termitidae, Ter- mitinae). Am Mus. Novit., 1947:1-42. Evolution of the structure and behavior of termites with a reexami- nation of the concepts of vestiges, recapitulation, and caeno- genesis. Science, 130:141~17(A). "Feedback" in evolution. Science, 129:1580. 1960 New genera of termites related to Subulitermes from the Oriental, Malagasy, and Australian regions (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasu- titermitinae). Am. Mus. Novit., 1986:1-28. New genera on the Subulitermes branch of the Nasutitermitinae from the Ethiopian region (Isoptera, Termitidae). Am. Mus. Novit., 1987:1-21. Six new genera\of Termitinae from the Belgian Congo (Isoptera, Termitidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1988: 1~9. The evolution of adaptation in population systems. In: Evolution after Darwin, ed. S. Tax, vol. 1, The Evolution of Life, pp. 307~8. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

174 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Huxley, Sir Julian Sorell. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 947. Chicago: Encyclopacdia Britannica. Wheeler, William Morton. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 23, p. 566. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. The impact of the theory of evolution on religion. In: Science Ponders Religion, ed. Harlow Shapley, pp. 136-46. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. The evolution of life (panel discussion with I. Huxley, D. I. Axel- rod, T. Dobzhansky, E. B. Ford, E. Mayr, A. I. Nicholson, E. C. Olson, C. L. Prosser, G. L. Stebbins, and S. Wright). In: Evolu- tion after Darwin, ed. S. Tax and C. Callender, vol. 3, Issues in Evolution, pp. 107~3. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. With K. P. Schmidt. Taxonomy. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1961 Review of G. G. Simpson, Principles of Animal Taxonomy. Science, 133: 1589-90. Vestigial characters of termites and processes of regressive evolu- tion. Evolution, 15: 115-31. 1962 Intellectual cooperation among natural scientists. In: Report and Proceedings, Sino-American Conference on Intellectual Cooperation, Univ. Washington, 1960, pp. 86, 100, 123-25, 18~92. Seattle: Univ. of Washington. The impact of Darwin on biology. Acta Biotheor., 15: 175-216. Vestigial characters, regressive evolution, and recapitulation among termites. In: Termites in the Humid Tropics (Proceedings of the New Delhi symposium, ~12 October 1960), pp. 17-30. Paris: UNESCO. Human cultural evolution and its relation to organic evolution of termites. In: Termites in the Humid Tropics (Proceedings of the New Delhi symposium,4- 12 October 1960), pp. 247-54. Paris: UNESCO. With K. Krishna. New species of the genus Glyptotermes Froggatt from the Papuan, Oriental, Ethiopian, and Neotropical regions (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae). Am. Mus. Novit., 2089:1-65.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 1964 175 Report of the representative to the centennial celebration of the National Academy of Sciences. Bull. Entomol. Soc. Am., 10:42. Termites (interview). The New Yorker, 18 Jan., pp. 23-24. 1965 A review of the Mastotermitidae (Isoptera) including a new fossil genus from Brazil. Am. Mus. Novit., 2236:1-46. Human cultural evolution and its relation to organic evolution of insect societies. In: Social Changes in Developing Areas: A Reinter- pretation of Evolutionary Theory, ed. H. R. Barringer, G. I. Blanksten, and R. W. Mack, pp. 50-67. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Publ. Co. 328 pp. With F. A. Banks. The Neotropical genus Labiotermes (Holmgren): Its phylogeny, distribution, and ecology (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae). Am. Mus. Novit., 2208:1-33. With L. H. Throckmorton. Survey of biological research institu- tions in Japan, 1964. In: United States-fapan Cooperative Effort, ed. {. Renirie and N. Neureiter, BioScience, 15:21-24. 1966 Commentary on theological resources from the biological sciences. Zygon, 1:55-56. Review of W. A. Sands, A revision of the termite subfamily Nasu- titermitinae (Isoptera, Termitidae) from the Ethiopian region. Q. Rev. Biol., 41~1~:325. 1967 Homeostasis and comparison of systems. In: Toward a Unified The- ory of Human Behavior: An Introduction to General Systems Theory, ed. R. R. Grinker,2d ea., pp. 147-63. New York: Basic Books. 380 pp. (Uretaceous insects from Labrador. 3. A new genus and species of termite (Isoptera: Hodotermitidae). Psyche, 74~4~:27~89. 1968 Dynamic homeostasis: A unifying principle in organic, social, and ethical evolution. Zygon, 3~2~:129-68.

176 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS A revision of the fossil genus Ulmer~ella (Isoptera, Hodotermitidae, Hodotermitinae3. Am. Mus. Novit., 2332:1-22. La evolucion cultural humane y su relacion con la evolucion organica de las sociedades de insectos. In: Cambios soczales en Reg2ones en desarrollo. Una Interpretacion de la Teorza evolucion2sta, ed. H. R. Barringer, G. I. Blanksten, and R. W. Mack, pp. 59-77. Mexico: Editorial Roble. 360 pp. 1969 A revision of the Tertiary fossil species of the Kalotermitidae (Isoptera). Am. Mus. Novit., 2359:1-57. 1971 Tertiary fossil species of the Rhinotermitidae (Isoptera), phylogeny of genera, and reciprocal phylogeny of associated flagellaea (Protozoa) and the Staphylinidae (Coleoptera). Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 146~3~:243-304. Review of K. Krishna and F. M. Weesner, The Biology of Termites, vol. 1. Am. Sci., 53~3~:373. Thomas Elliott Snyder, 1885-1970. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash., 73~2~:239~2. A biologist and his times. Science, 172~3984~:679. 1972 Review of E. O. Wilson. The Insect Socaeties. Anim. Behav., 20: 821-22. 1973 Some biological antecedents of human purpose. Zygon, 8~3-4~: 294-309. 1974 With R. W. Burhoe. Evolutionary aspects of freedom, death, and dignity. Zygon, 9~21:15~82. 1975 With K. Krishna. The termite family Serritermitidae (Isoptera). Am. Mus. Novit., 2570:1-31.

ALFRED EDWARDS EMERSON 1976 177 Termite nests a study of the phylogeny of behavior (reprint of article originally published in 19381; Addendum: nomencla- tural changes, pp. 132-33; Changes in the biological basis of termite ethology with more recent bibliography, p. 133. In: External Constructions by Animals, ed. Nicholas Collias and E. Collias. Stroudsburg, Pa.: Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Benchmark Papers in Behavior.

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Biographic Memoirs: Volume 53 contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.

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