viii Preface 



by presenting in this little book a brief and not too highly 

 technical description of the general characteristics and his- 

 tory of the dancer. 



The purposes which I have had in mind as I planned and 

 wrote the book are three : first, to present directly, clearly, 

 and briefly the results of my investigation ; second, to give 

 as complete an account of the dancing mouse as a thorough 

 study of the literature on the animal and long-continued 

 observation on my own part should make possible ; third, to 

 provide a supplementary text-book on mammalian behavior 

 and on methods of studying animal behavior for use in con- 

 nection with courses in Comparative Psychology, Compara- 

 tive Physiology, and Animal Behavior. 



It is my conviction that the scientific study of animal be- 

 havior and of animal mind can be furthered more just at 

 present by intensive special investigations than by extensive 

 general books. Methods of research in this field are few 

 and surprisingly crude, for the majority of investigators have 

 been more deeply interested in getting results than in per- 

 fecting methods. In writing this account of the dancing 

 mouse I have attempted to lay as much stress upon the de- 

 velopment of my methods of work as upon the results which 

 the methods yielded. In fact, I have used the dancer as a 

 means of exhibiting a variety of methods by which the be- 

 havior and intelligence of animals may be studied. As it 

 happens the dancer is an ideal subject for the experimental 

 study of many of the problems of animal behavior. It is 

 small, easily cared for, readily tamed, harmless, incessantly 

 active, and it lends itself satisfactorily to a large number of 

 experimental situations. For laboratory courses in Compara- 

 tive Psychology or Comparative Physiology it well might 

 hold the place which the frog now holds in courses in Com- 

 parative Anatomy. 



