The Beastiary
Insects, Arachnids & Other Bugs
Ants
The picnic pests are found on Gor too, 
in many varieties as well.
"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." — Explorers of Gor, page 311.
Arthropod
[of the Nest]
An eight foot long, multi-segmented insect which serves as the "cattle" of the Priest-Kings.
At that moment to my horror a large, perhaps eight feet long and a yard high, multilegged, segmented arthropod scuttled near, its eyes weaving on stalks. "It's harmless," said the Priest-King. The arthropod stopped and the eyes leaned toward us and then its pincers clicked twice. Without turning it scuttled backwards away, its body plates rustling like plastic armor." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 82.
"… and those from the Pastures drove before them with long pointed goads huge, shambling gray arthropods, the cattle of Priest-Kings…" — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 236.
Bees, Honey
See: "Honey Bees."
Beetles
Not 
George, Ringo, Paul or John, but any of several varieties of insects having hard wings.
Beetles (order Coleoptera): "Any of at least 250,000 species of insects (the largest order in the animal kingdom), principally characterized by their special forewings, which are modified into hardened wing covers (elytra) that cover a second pair of functional wings. The order includes some of the largest and smallest insects and is the most widely distributed insect order. Most feed either upon other animals or upon plants, but some eat decaying matter. Some beetles are of great economic importance; both adults and larvae may destroy crops, timber, and textiles and spread parasitic worms and diseases. Other beetles are valuable because they prey on insect pests." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." — Explorers of Gor, page 311.
Centipedes
The many-legged insect loves the temperatures of the rainforests.
"Centipede (class Chilopoda): any of about 2,800 species of long, flattened, many-segmented predaceous anthropods with each segment bearing one pair of legs, except the hindmost. They are commonly grouped with several other classes as myriapods. Centipedes remain under stones, bark, and ground litter by day; at night they capture other small invertebrates. They move rapidly on from 14 to 177 pairs of legs and have one pair of long, many-jointed antennae and a pair of jawlike, venomous claws just behind the head.
The 25-millimetre (1-inch) house centipede (order Scutigerida, or Scutigeromorpha) of Europe and North America is the only one common in dwellings. It has a short, striped body and 15 pairs of very long legs. Other centipedes have shorter, hooklike legs; in some the last pair is pincerlike. Soil centipedes (order Geophilida, or Geophilomorpha) are burrowers; they alternately expand and contract the body, in the manner of earthworms. The order Scolopendrida, or Scolopendromorpha, of the tropics contains the largest centipedes; Scolopendra gigantea of the American tropics may reach a length of 280 mm (11 inches). These forms are capable of inflicting severe bites. Scolopendrids, as well as the geophilids, have relatively slow and sinuous movements. The little stone centipedes (order Lithobiida, or Lithobiomorpha) are short-bodied; they and the house centipedes are the fastest moving centipedes, running with the body held straight." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006;
"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." — Explorers of Gor, page 311.
Gitch
Insect often found in insulae; their bite is painful. Nothing is described further on this bug.
"They are harmless, not like the gitches whose bites are rather painful. Some of them are big fellows, too. But there aren't many of them around. The frevets see to it. Achiates prides himself on a clean house." — Mercenaries of Gor, page 277.
Golden Beetle
Not the kind of bug easily squished with boots, it is in fact, a very large insect, roughly the size of a rhinoceros, with luminous eyes, two mulipli-hooked, tubular, hollow, pincer-like extensions that meet at the tips, approximately one yard beyond their body, and short antennae. They live in the caverns below the Nest of the Priest-Kings in the Sardar Mountains; they emit a narcotic odor which hypnotizes the Priest Kings, allowing the beetle to kill and devour them.
"What does the Golden Beetle kill?" I asked. "Priest-Kings," said the second slave. — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 105.
"The
Golden Beetle was not nearly as tall as a Priest-King, but it was probably considerably heavier. It was about the size of a rhinoceros and the first thing I noticed after the glowing eyes were two multiply hooked, tubular, hollow, pincerlike extensions that met at the tips perhaps a yard beyond its body. They seemed clearly some aberrant mutation of its jaws. Its antennae, unlike those of Priest-Kings, were very short. They curved and were tipped with a fluff of golden hair. Most strangely perhaps were several long, golden strands, almost a mane, which extended from the creature's head over its domed, golden back and fell almost to the floor behind it. The back itself seemed divided into two thick casings which might once, ages before, have been horny wings, but now the tissues had, at the points of touching together, fused in such a way as to form what was for all practical purposes a thick, immobile golden shell. The creature's head was even now withdrawn beneath the shell but its eyes were clearly visible and of course the extensions of its jaws… It began to hiss. This noise unnerved me for a moment because I had been used to the uncanny silence of Priest-Kings…" — Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 180-182.
My hands seized the narrow, hollow, pincerlike jaws of the Golden Beetle and tried to force them from my body, but those relentless, hollow, chitinous hooks closed ever more tightly. They had now entered my skin and to my horror I felt a pull against my tissues and knew that the creature was now sucking through those foul tubes… I thought for a moment I might clean it on the golden strands of the Beetle's strange mane but I discovered these were wet with foul, glutinous exudate, the source of that unpleasant, narcotic odor which still permeated the passageway." — Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 184-185.
"The exudate which forms on the mane hair of the Golden Beetle, which had overcome me in the close confines of the tunnel, apparently has a most intense and, to a human mind, almost incomprehensibly compelling effect on the unusually sensitive antennae of Priest-Kings, luring them helplessly, almost as if hypnotized, to the jaws of the Beetle, who than penetrates their body with its hollow, pincerlike jaws and drains of body-fluid." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 257.
Grasshoppers
Hopping
pests; the variety mentioned in this instance, is red in color. Grasshoppers on Earth vary in their coloring from green to brown, and some wtih markings in yellow and red. It's safe to say that the same would be true with the grasshoppers on Gor.
"A grasshopper, red, the size of a horned gim, a small, owllike bird, some four ounces in weight, common in the northern latitudes, had leaped near the fire, and disappeared into the brush." — Slave Girl of Gor, page 293.
Hinti
These are small, flea-like insects; considered to be non-parasitic.
Honey Bees
Often raised
domestically for honey harvesting.
"The proprietor arrived with hot bread, honey, salt and, to my delight, a huge, hot roasted chunk of tarsk." — Outlaw of Gor, page 79.
"I saw small fruit trees, and hives, where honey bees were raised…" — Marauders Gor, page 81.
Leach
Also: Leech.
Blood sucking flat worm usually found in fresh water. Also mentioned in the books is the Salt Leach which thrives in the marshes and shallow parts of rivers.
Etymology: Middle English leche, from Old English l[AE]ce; akin to Old High German lAhhi physician; Date: before 12th century;
"1) archaic: Physician, Surgeon
2) [from its former use by physicians for bleeding patients] : any of numerous carnivorous or bloodsucking usually freshwater annelid worms (class Hirudinea) that have typically a flattened lanceolate segmented body with a sucker at each end." —Merriam-Webster Dictionary ©2002-2006
The Leech (class Hirudinea): any of about 650 species of segmented, or annelid, worms. A small sucker, which contains the mouth, is at the anterior end; a large sucker is at the posterior end. All leeches have 34 body segments. The length of the body generally ranges from minute to about 20 cm (8 inches) or even longer when the animal stretches. Leeches occur primarily in freshwater and on land. Members of the order Rhynchobdellida occur in the sea as well as in freshwater. One member of this order, the giant Amazon leech (Haementaria ghilianii) can grow to a half-metre (about 18 inches) in length. This leech uses its 15-cm (6-inch) proboscis as a hypodermic needle to suck blood from its host. Some species of leeches are predators of other animals; some eat organic debris; others are parasitic.
Leeches breathe through the skin. The digestive system contains a crop, or pouch, in which food can be stored for several months. One to four pairs of eyes are located at the anterior end. Individuals are hermaphroditic-i.e., functional reproductive organs of both sexes occur in the same individual. Leeches are not self-fertilizing, however, for the sperm of one individual fertilizes only the eggs of other individuals. The eggs are laid in a cocoon, which may be deposited on land or in water. Development and growth are direct, without a larval stage.
Aquatic leeches may feed on the blood of fishes, amphibians, birds, and mammals, or they may eat snails, insect larvae, and worms. True land leeches feed only on the blood of mammals. Three jaws set with sharp teeth make a Y-shaped incision in the flesh. The leech's saliva contains substances that anesthetize the wound area, dilate the blood vessels to increase blood flow, and prevent the blood from clotting. The anticoagulant hirudin, which is extracted from the body tissues of the European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis), is used medically.
Land leeches await their victim in damp vegetation, poising one end in the air. The victim is often unaware that he has been bitten until blood is discovered running from the wound; blood flow may continue because of the anticoagulant still present.
Leeches that attack humans belong to the family Gnathobdellidae. Some species have been used medically for centuries; in Europe the use of leeches to drain off blood reached its height of popularity in the 19th century. Diseases commonly treated with leeches included mental illness, tumours, skin disease, gout, and whooping cough. A common treatment for headache was to apply several leeches to each temple and allow them to draw blood. In addition to H. medicinalis of Europe, the Algerian dragon (H. troctina) was used. Gnathobdella ferox was commonly used in Asia. After H. medicinalis was introduced into North America, it established itself there as a wild species. It grows to 10 cm (4 inches) in length and is green, with four to six brown stripes. Other land leeches that attack humans are primarily of the genus Haemadipsa in Asia, the Philippines, the East Indies, and Madagascar. Leeches of the genus Philaemon are parasitic on humans in Australia.
Aquatic leeches, particularly Limnatis nilotica, may enter the body in drinking water. Some may enter the excretory openings of persons who bathe in infested waters. L. nilotica, which inhabits lakes and streams of southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, attains lengths of up to 12 cm (4.75 inches). The younger, smaller specimens are most likely to enter the body. When ingested with drinking water they may first attach themselves to the linings of the nose or throat and then be inhaled into the lungs. A person infected with many such leeches may suffer from anemia resulting from loss of blood. In external wounds secondary infection is more likely to occur than anemia. Leeches can cause suffocation and death of the host by blockage of the breathing passages; in Asia, in particular, domestic animals commonly die in this way." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
"He reached under the water and pulled a fat, glistening leach, some two inches long, from his leg." — Explorers of Gor, page 267.
"I flicked a salt leach from the side of my light rush craft with the corner of the tem-wood paddle." — Raiders of Gor, page 5.
Lice
The smaller variety infests the holds of ships, as well as birds and animals. There are lice the size of marbles, which infest the wild tarns. I have seen them notated on webpages as "tarn lice,"
width="101" height="130" alt="Louse" however in the books, they are simply called… lice. Those found on ships, however, are referred to as "ship lice."
"Louse (plural lice): any member of the order Phthiraptera, small, wingless, parasitic insects divisible into two main groups: the Mallophaga , or chewing or biting lice, which are parasites of birds and mammals, and the Anoplura, or sucking lice, parasites of mammals only. One of the sucking lice, the human louse , is the carrier of typhus and louse-borne relapsing fever; it thrives in conditions of filth and overcrowding. Outbreaks of louse-borne diseases were frequent by-products of famine, war, and other disasters before the advent of powerful insecticides (see infection ). Heavy infestations of lice may cause intense skin irritation, and scratching for relief may lead to secondary infections. In domestic animals, rubbing and damage to hides and wool may also occur, and meat and egg production may be affected; in badly infested birds, the feathers may be severely damaged." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
"I withdrew some of the lice, the size of marbles, which tend to infest the wild tarns, and slapped them roughly into the mouth of the tarn, wiping them off on his tongue." — Tarnsman of Gor, page 142.
"Good-naturedly, I scratched out a handful or two of lice which I slopped on his tongue like candy. — Tarnsman of Gor, page 162.
"It was not a slave ship, I gather," I said, "else it is likely her head and body hair would have been shaved, to reduce the degree of infestation by ship lice in the hold." — Explorers of Gor, page 26.
"The hair of the below-deck girls, mercifully, is shaved off; indeed, our body hair, too, was shaved off, completely. These precautions prevent, to a great extent, the nesting of ship lice." — Slave Girl of Gor, page 321.
Marchers
Army ants of the rainforests inland of Schendi. These jungle ants literally "march" at various periods in search of food, devouring everything in its path, including humans. 
" Probably akin to the army ants of Earth.
Army ants, of the subfamily Dorylinae, are nomadic and notorious for the destruction of plant and animal life in their path. The army ants of tropical America (Eciton), for example, travel in columns, eating insects and other invertebrates along the way. Periodically the colony rests for several days while the queen lays her eggs. As the colony travels, the growing larvae are carried along. Habits of the African driver ant (Dorylus) are similar. The fire ant (Sole nopsis saevissima), introduced into Alabama from South America, had spread throughout the southern United States by the mid-1970s. It inflicts a painful sting and is considered a pest because it builds large mounds as nests. Effective, ecologically acceptable methods to control it are being sought." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
I had then heard, as I had once before, but had been unable to place the noise, the sound, that strange sound, as of a small wind moving leaves. I had heard it before on the edge of the lagoon, but had not understood it. Soon, as we approached more closely, quietly, the sound became much louder. It was now clearly distinguishable as a quite audible rustling or stirring. But there was no wind. "The marchers," said the leader of the small men, pointing. The hair on the back of my neck rose.
I saw now that the sound was the sound of millions upon millions of tiny feet, treading upon the leaves and fallen debris of the jungle floor. Too, there may have been, mixed in that sound, the almost infinitesimal sound, audible only in its cumulative effect, of the rubbings and clickings of the joints of tiny limbs and the shiftings and adjustments of tiny, black, shiny exoskeletons, those stiff casings of the segments of their tiny bodies. "Do not go too close," said the leader of the small men. The column of the marchers was something like a yard wide. I did not know how long it might be. It extended ahead through the jungle and behind through the jungle farther than I could see in either direction. Such columns can be pasangs in length. It is difficult to conjecture the numbers that constitute such a march. Conservatively some dozens of millions might be involved. The column widens only when food is found; then it may spread as widely as five hundred feet in width. Do not try to wade through such a flood. The torrent of hurrying feeders leaves little but bones in its path. "Let us go toward the head of the column," said the little man.
We trekked through the jungle for several hours, keeping parallel to the long column. Once we crossed a small stream. The marchers, forming living bridges of their own bodies, clinging and scrambling on one another, crossed it also. They, rustling and black, moved over fallen trees and about rocks and palms. They seemed tireless and relentless. Flankers marshaled the column. Through the green rain forest the column moved, like a governed, endless, whispering black snake. "Do they march at night?" I asked.
"Often," said the small man. "One must be careful where one sleeps." We had then advanced beyond the head of the column by some four hundred yards.
"It is going to rain," I said. "Will that stop them?"
"For a time," he said. "They will scatter and seek shelter, beneath leaves and twigs, under the debris of the forest, and then, summoned by their leaders, they will reform and again take up the march." Scarcely had he spoken but the skies opened up and, from the midst of the black, swirling clouds, while lightning cracked and shattered across the sky and branches lashed back and forth wildly in the wind, the driven, darkly silver sheets of a tropical rain storm descended upon us.
"Do they hunt?" I shouted to the small man.
"Not really," he said. "They forage." He had thrown to the forest floor a portion of the slain tarsk. I watched the black, segmented bodies of some fifteen or twenty ants, some two hundred yards in advance of the column, approach the meat. Their antennae were lifted. They had seemed tense, excited. They were some two inches in length. Their bite, and that of their fellows, is vicious and extremely painful, but it is not poisonous. There is no quick death for those who fail to escape the column. Several of these ants then formed a circle, their heads together, their antennae, quivering, touching one another. Then, almost instantly, the circle broke and they rushed back to the column. — Explorers of Gor, pages 400-401.
Needle Flies
Also: "Sting Flies." Their habitat is of those such as in the delta and other similar geographical areas. It's sting is extremely painful, but it is usually not dangerous, unless inflicted in great numbers.
Rennels
Poisonous, crab-like desert insects.
"I was told by Kamchak that once an army of a thousand wagons turned aside because a swarm of rennels, poisonous, crablike desert insects, did not defend its broken nest, crushed by the wheel of the lead wagon." — Nomads of Gor, page 27.
"… her calves were scratched and speckled with the red bites of rennels." — Nomads of Gor, page 135.
Roach
The obnoxious insect is found on Gor, too.
Etymology: by folk etymology from Spanish cucaracha cockroach, from cuca caterpillar; Date: 1623;
"Any of an order or suborder (Blattodea syn. Blattaria) of chiefly nocturnal insects including some that are domestic pests." — Merriam-Webster Dictionary ©2004-2006
Cockroach, also called Roach, refers to any insect of the suborder Blattaria (order Dictyoptera) of more than 3,500 species. The word cockroach is a corruption of the Spanish cucaracha. Cockroaches are among the most primitive living, winged insects (almost unchanged for more than 320 million years) and are among the oldest fossil insects. The cockroach is characterized by a flattened, oval body; long, threadlike antennae; and a shining, black or brown, leathery integument. The head is bent downward, and the mouthparts point backward instead of forward or downward as is the case in most other insects. The male usually has two pairs of wings; the female, often wingless or with vestigial wings, carries eggs in egg cases (called ootheca) that protrude from her body. After the female deposits an egg case, soft white nymphs emerge, hardening and turning brown in colour upon exposure to air. The structure and large size (certain species have a wingspread of more than 12 cm [4.7 inches]) of cockroaches have made them objects of interest in the biological laboratory.
The cockroach prefers a warm, humid, dark environment and is usually found in tropical or other mild climates. Only a few species have become pests. The insect damages more material than it consumes and emits a disagreeable odour. The diet of the roach, which includes both plant and animal products, ranges from food, paper, clothing, and books to dead insects, especially bedbugs. Insecticides are used in roach control.
The American cockroach (species Peripla ne ta americana) is 30 to 50 mm long (up to about 2 inches), reddish brown, and lives outdoors or in dark, heated indoor areas (e.g., basements and furnace rooms). During adult life, a period of about 1.5 years, the female deposits 50 or more oothecae, each containing about 16 eggs that hatch after 45 days. Nymphal life lasts from 11 to 14 months. The American cockroach, a native of tropical and subtropical America, has well-developed wings and can fly long distances.
The German cockroach (Blattella germanica), a common household pest sometimes erroneously called a waterbug, is light-brown with two dark stripes on the prothoracic region. The female produces the ootheca three days after mating and carries it for about 20 days. Because it is small (about 12 mm [less than 0.5 inch] long), this cockroach often is carried into homes in grocery bags and boxes; it has spread throughout the world by ship. Three or more generations may occur yearly. This cockroach, abundant around the water pipes of the Croton Aqueduct in New York City, became known as the Croton bug.
The brown-banded cockroach (Supella supellectilium) resembles the German cockroach but is slightly smaller. The male has fully developed wings and is lighter in colour than the female, whose wings are short and nonfunctional. Both sexes have two light-coloured bands across the back. The adult life span is about 200 days, and there may be two generations annually. Eggs may be deposited in clothes, wood molding, or cracks in the floor. With the advent of heated buildings this cockroach became established in cooler climates.
The Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) is considered one of the filthiest of household pests. It is oval, shiny black or dark brown, 25 to 30 mm long, with a life cycle similar to that of the American cockroach. The male has short, fully developed wings, and the female has vestigial wings. This cockroach has been distributed by vehicles of commerce from its Asiatic origins to all the temperate regions.
Wood roaches are not domestic pests. Parcoblatta pennsylvanica, the common wood cockroach, is found under logs and stones in northern latitudes. The male and female are so different in appearance that they were once considered separate species. The male, 15 to 25 mm long, has wings that extend past the abdomen; the female is smaller and has much shorter wings. Cryptocercus punctulatus digests wood with the aid of certain protozoans in its digestive tract." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
"You see," said the proprietor. "You will come to like the frevets." We watched a large, oblong, flat-bodied black object, about a half hort in length, with long feelers, hurry toward a crack at the base of the wall. "That is a roach," he said. "They are harmless, not like the gitches whose bites are rather painful. Some of them are big fellows, too. But there aren't many of them around. The frevets see to it." — Mercenaries of Gor, pages 266-267.
Sand Flies
Tiny black flies found in the Tahari, which infest water holes; a vicious nuisance inflicting painful bites in both people and animals.
"In the morning I would unchain her early that she might, like the other slave girls in camp, be about her duties. Once she stole a date. I did not whip her. I chained her, arms over her head, back against the trunk, to a flahdah tree. I permitted nomad children to discomfit her. They are fiendish little beggars. They tickled her with the lanceolate leaves of the tree. They put honey about her, to attract the tiny black sand flies, which infest such water holes in the spring." — Tribesmen of Gor, page 81.
"Following such rains great clouds of sand flies appear wakened from dormancy. These feast on kaiila and men. Normally, flying insects are found only in the vicinity of the oases. Crawling insects of various sorts, and predator insects, however, are found in many areas, even far from water. The zadit is a small, tawny-feathered, sharp-billed bird. It feeds on insects. When sand files and other insects, emergent after rains, infest kaiila, they frequently alight on the animals, and remain on them for some hours, hunting insects. This relieves the kaiila of the insects but leaves it with numerous small wounds, which are unpleasant and irritating, where the bird has dug insects out of it's hide. These tiny wounds, if they become infected, turn into sores; these sores are treated by the drovers with poultices of kaiila dung." — Tribesmen of Gor, page 152.
"It was only a day later that the flies appeared. I had thought, first, it was another storm. It was not. The sun itself, for more than four Ehn, was darkened, as the great clouds moved over us. Suddenly, like darting, black, dry rain, the insects swarmed about us. I spit them from my mouth. I heard Alyena scream. The main swarms had passed but, clinging about us, like crawling spots on our garments, and in and among the hairs of the kaiila, in their thousands, crept the residue of the infestation. I struck at them, and crushed them, until I realized the foolishness of doing so. In less than four Ahn, twittering, fluttering, small, tawny, sharp-billed, following the black clouds, came flights of zadits. We dismounted and led the kaiila, and let the birds hunt them for flies. The zadits remained with us for more than two days. Then they departed." — Tribesmen of Gor, page 169.
Scorpions
Stinging arachnids found in desert regions. 
width="159" height="112" alt="Scorpion" No mention is found to tell if these insects on Gor are of the poisonous variety or not.
"Any of 1,400 elongated arachnid species characterized by a segmented curved tail tipped with a venomous stinger at the rear of the body and a pair of grasping pincers at the front. Although scorpions are most common and diverse in deserts, they also live in many other habitats. Primarily nocturnal, scorpions often play the role of evildoers in fables and legends. Greek respect for scorpions prompted the naming of the constellation Scorpius, a sign of the zodiac.
"The mother invests a great amount of time and energy in her offspring. Unlike most nonmammalian animals, scorpions are viviparous, giving birth to live young instead of laying eggs. Once fertilized, the eggs are retained in the female's body, where the embryos are nourished in utero for periods varying from several months to a year.The birth process itself may last from several hours to several days. Temperate species usually give birth in spring and summer, whereas tropical species give birth throughout the year. Litter size averages 25, with a range of 1 to more than 100.
About 25 species in eight genera possess venoms capable of killing people. In the United States there have been few deaths in the past several decades, but it is estimated that hundreds per year may occur worldwide. Species of the genus Centruroides are primarily responsible. Scorpions are also health hazards in parts of India (Buthotus tamulus), North Africa and the Middle East (Androctonus, Buthus occitanus, Buthotus minax, and Leiurus quinquestriatus), South America and the West Indies (Tityus and Rhopalurus), and South Africa (Parabuthus). All these species are members of the family Buthidae. Buthids produce a complex neurotoxin that causes both local and systemic effects. Severe convulsions, paralysis, and cardiac irregularities precede death. Death can be avoided if the antivenoms now available against most lethal species are administered. The venoms of more than 1,200 other species are not deadly. These species, however, produce hemotoxins that cause mild to strong local effects, including edema, discoloration, and pain. The sting is often less painful than that of a bee, and victims fully recover in minutes, hours, or days." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2006.
"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." — Explorers of Gor, page 311.
Slime Worm
A long, slow, blind worm which inhabits the caverns below the Nest in the Sardar; scavenges the remains of the Golden Beetles kills.
We had not walked far when we passed a long, worm-like animal, eyeless, with a small red mouth, that inched its way along the corridor, hugging the angle between the wall and floor.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A Matok," said one of the slaves.
"What do you call it?" I asked.
"Oh," said one of the slaves. "It is a Slime Worm."
"What does it do?" I asked.
"Long ago it functioned in the Nest," said one of the slaves, "as a sewerage device, but it has not served that function in many thousands of years."
"The Slime Worm has earned its place in the Nest," said the other.
"How does it live?" I asked.
"It scavenges on the kills of the Golden Beetle," said the first slave.
"What does the Golden Beetle kill?" I asked.
"Priest-Kings," said the second slave. — Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 104-105.What approached was not another Golden Beetle, though I supposed there might have been several in those tunnels, but another inhabitant of those dismal passages, the whitish, long, slow, blind Slime Worm. Its tiny mouth on the underside of its body touched the stone flooring here and there like the poking finger of a blind man and the long, whitish, rubbery body gathered itself and pushed forward and gathered itself and pushed forward again until it lay but a yard from my sandal, almost under the shell of the slain Beetle. The Slime Worm lifted the forward portion of its long, tubular body and the tiny red mouth on its underside seemed to peer up at me. "No," I said, "the Golden Beetle has not made a kill in this place" The tiny red mouth seemed to continue to peer at me for perhaps a moment or two more and then it slowly turned away from me to the carcass of the Golden Beetle. — Priest-Kings of Gor page 186.
Slugs
A gastropod. The book references a slug-like creature, but is not defined as a slug.
"Any mollusk of the class Gastropoda in which the shell is reduced to an internal plate or a series of granules or is completely absent. The term generally refers to a land snail. Slugs belonging to the subclass Pulmonata have soft, slimy bodies and are restricted to moist habitats on land (one freshwater species is known). Some slug species damage gardens. In temperate regions the common pulmonate slugs (of the families Arionidae, Limacidae, and Philomycidae) eat fungi and decaying leaves. Slugs of the plant-eating family Veronicellidae are found in the tropics. Carnivorous slugs, which eat other snails and earthworms, include the Testacellidae of Europe. Marine gastropods of the subclass Opisthobranchia are sometimes called sea slugs." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
"I stepped aside as a flat, sluglike creature, clinging with several legs to a small transportation disk, swept by." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 90.
Snails
A 
gastropod. Slimy creatures, useful for food as well as fish bait.
"A gastropod (q.v.), especially one having an enclosing shell, into which it may retract completely for protection. A gastropod lacking a shell is commonly called a slug or sea slug." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
Once the Forkbeard went to her and taught her to check the scoop, with her left hand, for snails, that they not be thrown overboard. Returning to me he held one of the snails, whose shell he crushed between his fingers, and sucked out the animal, chewing and swallowing it. He then threw the shell fragments overboard. "They are edible," he said. "And we use them for fish bait." — Marauders Gor, page 62.
Spiders
Familiar eight-legged creature; one variety mentioned is the "Cell Spider" which inhabit the prison cells. The Rock Spider is found in the rainforests inland of Schendi, these 
spiders get their name as they tuck their legs beneath them, thus resembling a rock. These insects are brown and black in color, globular and approximately eight feet (8') in thickness. Even humans have accidentally fallen into their large webs becoming a tasty meal for the insect.
"This afternoon, late, when we had come inland, almost in the dusk, she had become entangled in the web of a rock spider, a large one. They are called rock spiders because of their habit of holding their legs folded beneath them. This habit, and their size and coloration, usually brown and black, suggests a rock, and hence the name. It is a very nice piece of natural camouflage. A thin line runs from the web to the spider. When something strikes the web the tremor is transmitted by means of this line to the spider. Interestingly the movement of the web in the air, as it is stirred by wind, does not activate the spider; similarly if the prey which strikes the web is too small, and thus not worth showing itself for, or too large, and thus beyond its prey range, and perhaps dangerous, it does not reveal itself. On the other hand, should a bird, such as a mindar or parrot, or a small animal, such as a leaf urt or tiny tarsk, become entangled in the net the spider swiftly emerges. It is fully capable of taking such prey." — Explorers of Gor, page 294.
"I went to the edge of the depression. There, a few feet below me, suspended in a gigantic web, was Janice. One of her legs was through the web, and an arm. It was not simply the adhesiveness of the web's strands which prevented her from freeing herself but, also, its swaying and elasticity, sinking beneath her as she tried to press against it. I looked down. The web was now trembling. Approaching her now, moving swiftly across the web, was a gigantic rock spider. It was globular, hairy, brown and black, some eight feet in thickness. It had pearly eyes and black, side-hinged jaws." — Explorers of Gor, pages 390-391.
"Vints, insects, tiny, sand-colored, covered them. On the same rinds, taking and eating vints, were two small cell spiders." — Tribesmen of Gor, pages 115-116.
Termites
White ants which eat wood.
"Termite: any of the cellulose-eating social insects that constitute the order Isoptera. Although they are referred to popularly as white ants, they are not closely related to ants, which are grouped with bees and wasps in a higher order of insects, the Hymenoptera. The social system of termites shows remarkable parallels with those of the Hymenoptera, but it has evolved independently." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006
A great spined anteater, more than twenty feet in length, shuffled about the edges of the camp. We saw its long, thin tongue dart in and out of its mouth. "It is harmless," I said, "unless you cross its path or disturb it." It lived on the white ants, or termites, of the vicinity, breaking apart their high, towering nests of toughened clay, some of them thirty-five feet in height, with its mighty claws, then darting its four-foot-long tongue, coated with adhesive saliva, among the nest's startled occupants, drawing thousands in a matter of moments into its narrow, tubelike mouth. — Explorers of Gor, page 293.
Termites, incidentally, are extremely important to the ecology of the forest. In their feeding they break down and destroy the branches and trunks of fallen trees. The termite "dust," thereafter, by the action of bacteria, is reduced to humus, and the humus to nitrogen and mineral materials. — Explorers of Gor, page 312.
Toos
A crab-like organism which inhabits the Nest and scavenges on discarded fungus spores.
I swung the transportation disk in a graceful arc to one side of the tunnel to avoid running into a crablike organism covered with overlapping plating and then swung the disk back in another sweeping arc to avoid slicing into a stalking Priest-King who lifted his antennae quizzically as we shot past. "The one who was not a Priest-King," quickly said Mul-Al-Ka, "was a Matok and is called a Toos and lives on discarded fungus spores." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 142.
Vint
Tiny sand colored insects of the Tahari.
"Vints, insects, tiny, sand-colored, covered them. On the same rinds, taking and eating vints, were two small cell spiders." — Tribesmen of Gor, pages 115-116.
Zarlit Fly
The zarlit fly
is very large, about two feet long, with four large, translucent wings, with a span of about a yard. It has large, pad-like feet on which, when it alights, it can rest on the water, or pick its way delicately across the surface. Most of them are purple. Their appearance is rather formidable and can give one a nasty turn in the delta, but happily, one soon learns they are harmless, at least to humans. Similar to an Earth dragonfly.
"I did see a large, harmless zarlit fly, purple, about two feet long with four translucent wings, spanning about a yard, humming over the surface of the water, then alighting and, on its pad-like feet, daintily picking its way across the surface." — Raiders of Gor, page 5.
Special Note
Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:
- Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
- Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
- Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
- Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)
Disclaimer
These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.