53 ANIMAL PARASITES AND MESSMATES. 



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inhabits the coast of Cahfornia, on the singular mysticete 

 recently distinguished by the name of FJiachianectes 

 glaucus. The Platylepas bisexlohata has lately been 

 observed on one of the Sirenia, the Manatus latirostris. 

 The marine turtles are also invaded by these singular 

 animals, and their peculiar form, joined. to their habitat, 

 has given them the name of ChelonoUa. It is not un- 

 common to find by the side of these Chelonobiae, and 

 even upon them, the Tanais, Serpulse, and Bryozoarise, " 

 forming together an animal forest on the cuirass of the 

 turtle. The Matamata, Sb turtle living in the brackish 

 v/ater of Guiana, is covered with a cirrhipede more allied 

 to the ordinary balani than to the chelonobiae. Other 

 living reptiles are not more exempt from cirrhipedes 

 than turtles; the Diclielaspis pellucida and the Concho- 

 derma Hiinteri invade different sea-snakes. Many sharks 

 harbour particular kinds, among which we mention the 

 Alepas of the Spinax niger from the coasts of Norway. 

 The same Alepas has been found on the Squalus glacialis 

 at the same time as the Anelasma squalicola. Half a 

 dozen varieties of these are known, one of which inhabits 

 an echinoderm, another a decapod crustacean. These 

 kinds of alepas are so reduced when they are adult, and 

 are so completely despoiled of their distinctive attributes, 

 that it is necessary to study them with especial care in 

 their first dress, in order to recognize their parentage. 



Other cirrhipedes establish themselves on neighbours 

 of their own class, and we also find crustaceans upon 

 other crustaceans. A pretty genus lives near Cape Verd 

 on the carapace of a large lobster, and spreads itself 

 on the centre of the back like a bouquet of flowers. 

 My son has procured some very fine specimens, an 



