FEEE MESSMATES 29 



nassje, hidden in the mud. The Limnaria lignorum and 

 the Chelura terebrans dig out a retreat for themselves in 

 wood, like the Teredines. 



We have just seen that the higher crustaceans, with 

 their well-mounted eyes, their enormous antennae, and 

 their formidable pincers, are not all of them the great 

 lords they pretend to be ; more than one of them has to 

 hold out its hand and to accept humbly the assistance of 

 its neighbours. 



In the group of isopod crustaceans we find many 

 necessitous beings, which, too proud to ask for food, are 

 contented to take their place on some fish which is a 

 good swimmer, which they abandon as soon as their 

 interest demands it ; if their host conducts them to 

 regions that do not suit' them, or if they have otherwise 

 to complain of him, they give him up, and begin their 

 maritime peregrinations with a fresh colleague. They 

 always preserve all their fishing tackle and their sailing 

 gear, and the female does not change her dress any more 

 than the male. We have to notice that these crustaceans 

 often identify themselves so entirely with their host 

 that they seem to be a portion of him, and even to 

 assume his peculiar colour. This is not a sign of 

 servility, but a means of passing unobserved, and of 

 escaping from the sight of the enemy that is watching 

 them. Naturalists have given the name of AnUocrm to 

 some of these free messmates. 



Any one who has remained for some time on the 

 coast of Brittany, especially at Concarneau, and who 

 does not look with indifference on the many superb 

 fishes which are taken every day, cannot fail to have 

 been struck with the presence of a rather large crusta- 



