In the early 1960s, John Holmes published 3 papers from his doctoral dissertation research, started at Rice University under the incisive supervision of Asa Chandler and completed under the equally incisive, if somewhat ornery, eyes of Clark P. Read. The first of these papers (Holmes, 1961; reprinted herein), established conclusively that 2 species of parasites interacted with one another in their common environment, such interaction being prerequisite to application of the “community” concept. This paper thus marks the beginning of modern community ecology as applied to parasitic helminths. The second paper (Holmes, 1962a) further defined the nature of interactions between Hymenolepis diminuta and Moniliformis dubius (= moniliformis). But if Holmes (1961, 1962a) established helminth community ecology as a rich, legitimate, and useful subdiscipline of parasitology, then Holmes (1962b) cast an intriguing shadow over his own results, for the 2 parasites did not interact with one...

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