84 BREEDING 



forms differ — namely, the nature of their customar}; 

 movements. 



It is not necessary, I think, to describe the 

 walking and rmming movements of the common 

 white mouse. Moreover, it would be difficult to give 

 a description of its demeanour which would be gener- 

 ally true, because the habits of the individual mouse 

 is determined to a very great extent by the treat- 

 ment to which it has been subjected. For instance, 

 the habits of one of my mice, more than a thousand 

 of which were kept in a room whilst the breeding 

 experiment was in progress, would be very different 

 from that of the ewe lamb of the schoolboy. The 

 characters which " tame " mice possess in common 

 are sufficiently familiar to the reader. They can 

 run straight away if free to do so. But the so-called 

 waltzing mouse cannot. 



The actual waltzing itself, which gives the breed 

 its name, does not, of course, resemble waltzing, and 

 is not executed on the hind legs only. A better 

 name, which is sometimes given it, is " spinning." The 

 animal runs round and round in a small circle, the 

 diameter of which is about half the length of the 

 animal's body excluding the tail, at so great a pace 

 that the mouse becomes a blur. No. 2 on Plate II. 

 represents a waltzing mouse in the act of waltzing, 

 with great faithfulness. This excellent representation 

 of the waltzing habit is due to the skill of Mr. Gerrard, 

 of Camden Town, who kept some of the waltzing 

 mice under observation for a considerable time before 

 stuffing them. An individual mouse does not 



