ANIMAL PARASITES 



AND MESSMATES. 



CHAPTER I. 



ANIMAL MESSMATES. 



The messmate is he who is received at the table of his 

 neighbour to partake with him of the produce of his day's 

 fishing ; it would be necessary to coin a name to desig- 

 nate him who only requu^es from his neighbour a simple 

 place on board his vessel, and does not ask to partake 

 of his provisions. 



The messmate does not live at the expense of his 

 host ; all that he desires is a home or his friend's super- 

 fluities. The parasite instals himself either temporarily 

 or definitively in the house of his neighbour ; either with 

 his consent or by force, he demands from him his living, 

 and very often his lodging. 



But the precise limit at which commensalism begins 

 is not always easily to be ascertained. There are 

 animals which live as messmates with others only at a 

 certain period of their lives, and which provide for their 

 own support at other times ; others are only messmates 



