THE EFFECTS OF POPULATION DENSITY UPON GROWTH AND SIZE IN LYMNAEA PALUSTRIS

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Abstract
The problem of whether there is a correlation between the number of snails in a family aggregation and the average size of the members of .such a group was studied in the fresh-water pulmonate, L. palustris. A series of 54 families comprising 1056 individuals was reared together until the age of 80 days, at which time it was found that a significant negative correlation existed between the number and the av. size of the individuals in the nursery. A study of other families subjected to varying methods of treatment showed that the effect of moderate crowding between hatching and the age of 80 days was real, and that escape from the effects of crowding occurred after the animals were isolated. The longer the snails were kept in an aggregation the less able were they to recover from the inhibiting effects of crowding, but crowding during only the first 80-day period had little if any effect upon final size.

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