Role of Sight in Daily Life of Dancer 181 



depended upon the form of the boxes in making its choice. 

 In view of. the general criticisms I have made concerning 

 the use of hunger as a motive in experiments on animal 

 behavior, and in view of the particular criticisms of this very 

 method of testing the discriminating powers of the mouse, it 

 may seem strange that space should be given to a report of 

 these tests. I sympathize with the feeling, if any one has it, 

 but, at the same time, I wish to call attention to the fact 

 that almost any mammal which is capable of profiting by 

 experience, and which, under the same conditions, could dis- 

 tinguish the rectangular box from the circular one, would 

 have chosen the right box with increasing accuracy as the 

 result of such experience. The results are important in my 

 opinion, not because they either prove or disprove the ability 

 of the dancer to discriminate these particular forms, the dis- 

 crimination of which might fairly be expected of any animal 

 with an image-forming eye, but because they demonstrate 

 an important characteristic of the dancing mouse, namely, its 

 indifference to the straightforward or direct way of doing 

 things. 



Most mammals which have been experimentally studied 

 have proved their eagerness and ability to learn the shortest, 

 quickest, and simplest route to food without the additional 

 spur of punishment for wandering. With the dancer it is 

 different. It is content to be moving; whether the movement 

 carries it directly towards the food is of secondary impor- 

 tance. On its way to the food-box, no matter whether the 

 box be slightly or strikingly different from its companion 

 box, the dancer may go by way of the wrong box, may take 

 a few turns, cut some figure-eights, or even spin like a top 

 for seconds almost within vibrissa-reach of the food-box, 

 and all this even though it be very hungry. Activity is pre- 

 eminently important in the dancer's life. 



