where AB is the abdominal length, PL the plastral length, AB1 the length of any given growth-ring, and X the plastral length at the time growth-ring AB^1 was formed, the plastral length of this individual was 29.3 millimeters at hatching, 38.8 at the end of the first full season of growth, and 47.2, 53.2, 59.6, 62.1, and 71.0 millimeters at the end of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons of growth, respectively. The present length of the abdominal (14.9 mm.) indicates an increment of three millimeters in plastral length in the seventh season, up to the time the turtle was killed (June 25). This method of studying growth in turtles was first used by Sergeev (1937) and later more extensively used by Cagle (1946 and 1948) in his researches on Pseudemys scripta. Because the plastron is curved, no straight-line measurement of it or its parts can express true length. Cagle (1946 and 1948) minimized error by expressing plastral length as the sum of the laminal (or growth-ring) lengths. This method was not possible in the present study because growth-rings on parts of one or more laminae (chiefly the gulars and anals) were usually obliterated by wear, even in young specimens. It was necessary to express plastral length as the sum of the lengths of forelobe and hind lobe.
The abdominal lamina was selected for study because of its length (second longest lamina of plastron), greater symmetry, and flattened form. Although the abdominal is probably subject to greater, over-all wear than any other lamina of the shell, wear is even, not localized as it is on the gulars and anals.
In instances where some of the growth-rings on an abdominal lamina were worn but other rings remained distinct, reference to other, less worn lamina permitted a correct interpretation of indistinct rings.
Abdominal laminae were measured at the interlaminal seam; since the laminae frequently did not meet perfectly along the midline (and were of unequal length), the right abdominal was measured in all specimens. Growth-rings on the abdominal laminae were measured in the manner shown in [Plate 22].
Data were obtained for an aggregate of 1272 seasons of growth in 154 specimens (67 females, 48 males, and 39 of undetermined sex, chiefly juveniles). Averages of calculated plastral length were computed in each year of growth for specimens of known sex (Figs. [9] and [10]) and again for all specimens examined. Annual increment in plastral length was expressed as a percentage of plastral length at the end of the previous growing season ([Fig. 11]). Increment in plastral length for the first season of growth was expressed as a percentage of original plastral length because of variability of growth in the season of hatching; growth increments in the season following hatching are, therefore, not so great as indicated in [Figure 11].
Growth of Juveniles
Areas of new laminal growth were discernible on laboratory hatchlings soon after they ate regularly. Hatchlings that refused to eat or that were experimentally starved did not grow. The first zone of epidermis was separated from the areola by an indistinct growth-ring (resembling a minor growth-ring) in most hatchlings, but in a few specimens the new epidermis appeared to be a continuation of the areola. Major growth-rings never formed before the onset of the first hibernation.
Growth in the season of hatching seems to depend on early hatching and early emergence from the nest. Under favorable conditions hatchlings would be able to feed and grow eight weeks or more before hibernation. Hatchlings that emerge in late autumn or that remain in the nest until spring are probably unable to find enough food to sustain growth.
Sixty-four (42 per cent) of the 154 specimens examined showed measurable growth in the season of hatching. The amount of increment was determined in 36 specimens having a first growth-ring and an areola that could be measured accurately. The average increment of plastral length was 17.5 per cent (extremes, 1.8-66.0 per cent) of the original plastral length. Ten individuals showed an increment of more than 20 per cent; the majority of these individuals (8) were hatched in the years 1947-50, inclusive.