SUMMARY 1. The growth of the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis L., was studied in the wild by a mark and recapture technique, and in the laboratory. Growth in the wild, even after 2 years, was generally small and variable.
2. After being offered regular feeds of various preparations of bovine blood through a pig‐ileum membrane and being allowed to feed to satiation, hatchling leeches in the laboratory showed a saltatory pattern of weight gain with increases greatly in excess of those seen in the wild. Twelve of twenty‐five leeches starved from hatching survived for about 250 days. The ability to survive for long periods without feeding may well be important for the overwintering survival of late hatchlings.
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