34 American Fisheries Society 



4500 terrapin, of which 1800 are adult breeding females. 

 The adaptability of terrapin to artificial conditions was 

 well illustrated in this case in that breeders purchased 

 by the company during the laying season of 1913, con- 

 tinued their activities in captivity and from the eggs thus 

 laid over 700 young terrapin were added to the com- 

 pany's stock. This year's brood numbers over 3500 and 

 would have been considerably greater save for some mis- 

 takes in the management of the laying beds. The annual 

 brood at the Beaufort Laboratory has shown a marked 

 growth in numbers, beginning with 12 in 1909, there 

 were 460 in 1911 and over 1500 in 1913. 



One of the factors that has seemed especially unfavor- 

 able to terrapin culture as a commercial proposition has 

 been the long period that it was expected would be re- 

 quired for the terrapin to reach a marketable size. While 

 the experimental results at Beaufort are still incomplete, 

 it now appears that this period may be considerably 

 shortened by improving on nature's methods. You are 

 aware that during the winter months the terrapin hiber- 

 nate. It is believed that the young terrapin, as a rule, re- 

 main in the nest during the first winter and do not begin 

 feeding until the following spring, having increased very 

 little if any in size during this period. At Beaufort the 

 young are not allowed to remain in the nest but are dug 

 out shortly after hatching, placed in wooden tanks, and 

 soon begin to eat. At the approach of cold weather part 

 of them are placed in hibernating boxes and the rest are 

 transferred to the terrapin house, which is modeled after 

 the order of a greenhouse and is heated, the temperature 

 not being allowed to fall below about 75° F. The warmth 

 in this building is sufficient to keep the terrapin active 

 and feeding. The start which they thus acquire enables 

 them to grow more rapidly during the following summer, 

 increasing the lead they had in the spring over stock 

 which was allowed to hibernate. 



New-born terrapin average slightly more than one inch 

 in length. This is the length of the flat plastron (bottom 

 shell) measured along the median line and, expressed in 



