The ecology of intestinal helminths has been extensively studied in the past few years, but one aspect of their ecology, the influence of other parasites, has received scant attention. Such attention as has been paid to this influence has generally been directed to cross-immune responses of the host. The possibility of interspecific competition between parasites, which might be important as a factor in the regulation of their distribution and abundance, has been generally overlooked, or, indeed, denied (Baer, 1952, p. 213).

Read and Phifer (1959) described the results of a series of experiments in which they studied the interactions between individual Hymenolepis diminuta and H. citelli in hamsters under conditions of ample and limited carbohydrate (starch). Both tapeworms were reduced in weight in the concurrent infections, but the extent of this reduction, and the relative effect on the two species, were markedly affected by the quantity of available...

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