II. 



Waltzing Mice.' 



WHATEVER the late war may have done towards increasing our 

 knowledge of Japan and things Japanese, it was the means of 

 introducing to me an interesting domestic animal, the subject of this 

 article. 



The mice were obtained from Mr. Haley, of this city, who 

 received them from Japan. The original pair and nearly all the 

 offspring for several generations are white, variegated with black, 

 disposed about the head, nape, and root of the tail. The exceptions 

 are reversions to the colour of the wild brown mouse, and two 

 instances in which the black is replaced by faint buff; the irides of 

 these are pink, whereas those of the other mice are dark. 



At first, a visitor probably regards the mice as mere colour 

 varieties of the common white race. A moment's observation reveals 

 the peculiarities of the breed, and attention is rivetted by their 

 strange performances. Early in life they exhibit the tendency which 

 has earned for them the name above applied. When a mouseling 

 leaves the nest its gait consists of an evident attempt to proceed in a 

 straight line ; this is frustrated by a tremulous movement of the head, 

 which is nervously shaken from side to side. Shortly, a tendency is 

 exhibited to turn ; this develops into a rotatory motion, performed 

 with extraordinary rapidity, which constitutes the peculiarity of the 

 waltzing mouse. 



The ordinary routine of daily life is constantly interrupted by 

 'this mad disposition to whirl, frequently indulged in for several 

 minutes, and, with an occasional stoppage of a few seconds, con- 

 tinued for hours. The floor of one of Mr. Haley's cages being 

 somewhat rough, the mice actually reduced their feet to stumps 



iln August, 1894 (vol. v., p. 91), we referred to a paper by Dr. C. Schlumberger, 

 published in the Memoirs of the Zoological Society of France (vol. vii., p. 63), and 

 giving an account of a Japanese netsuke, or ivory carving, which represented a 

 family of dancing mice. In his paper, Dr. Schlumberger referred to another by 

 himself on these curious little animals, in Feuille des Jeiuies Naturalistes, no. 271, 

 p. no, and a second by Remy Saint-Loup, in Bulletin de la Societc Zoologique de 

 Fiance, 1893, p. 85. The following note was posted to us by Mr. E. R. Waite 

 before Dr. Schlumberger's paper reached Australia. Since, however, it is an 

 independent account by a trained zoologist, it will doubtless interest English 

 readers, and may throw further light on this peculiar pathological breed. — Editor 

 Natural Science. 



