THE BEHAVIOR OF WHITE RATS IN THE PRESENCE 



OF CATS 



COLEMAN R. GRIFFITH 



Psychological Laboratory, University of Illinois 



The recently reported note 1 on the possible instinctive char- 

 acter of the behavior of the white rat in the presence of a cat has 

 led to a more complete and accurate description of the facts. 

 At the time the note was written it had been observed that the 

 presence of a cat, or of the feline odor when carried on the hands, 

 was a signal for the release of a striking bit of behavior in the 

 rat. Because of the apparent unlearnedness of the responses, 

 it was thought best to call them "instinctive." Small 2 has given 

 the first controlled description of such activities in the white rat; 

 but further work has by no means kept pace with descriptions 

 of other kinds of behavior aroused during the laboratory use 

 of these animals. 3 



The behavior previously described suggests Small's account 

 of the "emotional response of fear" at unusual noises (p. 86). 

 "Fear hi connection with loud noise is more definitely determi- 

 nable (twenty-second day) ; besides the reflex recoil, they crouch 

 and huddle together and wear a subdued expression" (p. 87). 

 Small did not find, however, that this behavior was excited by 

 the presence of a cat or by the feline odor. "The young rats 

 showed not the slightest symptom of fear of either man or cat, 

 though I tested them almost daily by my own presence and by 

 presenting my hand to their noses after having impregnated my 



1 Griffith, C. R., A possible case of instinctive behavior in the white rat. 

 Science, 1919, 1, 166-167. 



* Small, W. S., Notes on the psychic development of the young white rat. 

 Amer. J. of Psychol., 1889, xi, 80-100. 



* See Donaldson, H. H., The rat, 1915, p. 28, for a bibliography of references 

 to early accounts of the behavior of rats under natural conditions, and to later 

 laboratory work. 



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