BEHAVIOR OF STOCK AND INBRED ALBINO RATS 289 



ing over one another to get out first, running along the edge 

 of the cage and showing no fear of being caught. The inbred 

 rats, on the other hand, after running forward at first, would 

 retreat to the rear corner of the cage and huddle there, trying 

 to escape capture. None of these animals gave any evidence 

 of savageness or wildness. 



During the experiments the stock rats paid no attention to 

 occasional noises in the room. The inbred rats, especially in 

 the early experiments, were startled by slight noises and would 

 jump and crouch in a corner. 



The stock rats, in the maze experiments, usually ran steadily 

 and rather fast at first, making complex tangles in the outer 

 circles but finding their way to the centre fairly quickly, well 

 within the time limits. They showed much curiosity, poking 

 into blind alleys, stretching to the top of the walls, smelling 

 at the doorways, etc. When acquainted with the maze their 

 speed increased greatly, though here there was considerable 

 variation in method. No. 80, stock female, for instance, ran 

 very fast from the sixth trial on but made very few errors aside 

 from the one of turning in the wrong direction on first enter- 

 ing the maze. No. 82, stock female, on the other hand, ran 

 very fast but in a confused, scatterbrained sort of way, racing 

 back and forth many times in the same alley. Two of the 

 male stock rats ran back and forth repeatedly in the outer cir- 

 cles at first but soon learned merely to look into the blind alleys 

 instead of entering and then ran very fast and quite directly. 

 Only one showed any reluctance to enter the maze and none 

 hesitated to enter the food box. 



All the inbred rats, on the contrary, were reluctant to enter 

 the maze; in the first three trials all four ran very little but 

 crouched near the entrance until removed at the end of the 

 time limit. In the fourth and fifth trials they gradually found 

 their way into the centre after lingering near the entrance and 

 wandering in the outer circle. After getting in once each one 

 ran faster, more directly, and soon cut down errors to entering 

 blind alleys once. They showed apparently, therefore, not less 

 ability to form the maze habit than the stock rats but simply 

 a greater timidity in unfamiliar situations, which hindered 

 their forming the habit as quickly. This is borne out by the 

 results of the discrimination experiments where the inbred rats 



