  A well-known connection between n strings winding around a circle and
permutations of n objects plays a fundamental role in the string theory of
large N two dimensional Yang Mills theory and elsewhere in topological and
physical string theories. Basic questions in the enumeration of Feynman graphs
can be expressed elegantly in terms of permutation groups. We show that these
permutation techniques for Feynman graph enumeration, along with the Burnside
counting lemma, lead to equalities between counting problems of Feynman graphs
in scalar field theories and Quantum Electrodynamics with the counting of
amplitudes in a string theory with torus or cylinder target space. This string
theory arises in the large N expansion of two dimensional Yang Mills and is
closely related to lattice gauge theory with S_n gauge group. We collect and
extend results on generating functions for Feynman graph counting, which
connect directly with the string picture. We propose that the connection
between string combinatorics and permutations has implications for QFT-string
dualities, beyond the framework of large N gauge theory.
