6 The Dancing Mouse 



cleverness in tricks, and its activity. It is liked, therefore, 

 as an amusement for children. For this purpose it is kept 

 in a small cage, usually fifteen centimeters square, sometimes 

 in a somewhat broader wooden box one of whose walls is of 

 wire netting. In this box are built usually a tower, a tunnel, 

 a bridge, and a wheel. The wheel is rather broad, being 

 made in the form of a drum and pierced with holes on one 

 side through which the animal can slip in and out. Run- 

 ning around on the inside, the mouse moves the wheel often 

 for hours at a time, especially in the evening. Moreover, 

 there are found in the box other arrangements of different 

 kinds which may be set in motion by the turning of the 

 wheel. No space remains in the box in which the animal 

 may move about freely, and therefore one does not easily or 

 often have an opportunity to observe that the animal makes 

 circular movements, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. 

 This is the reason that in its home this interesting little 

 animal has never been studied by any one in this respect." 



It is odd indeed that the remarkable capacity of the dancer 

 for the execution of quick, graceful, dextrous, bizarre, and 

 oft-repeated movements has not been utilized in America as 

 it has in Japan. The mice are inexhaustible sources of 

 amusement as well as invaluable material for studies in 

 animal behavior and intelligence. 



Concerning the origin and history of this curious variety 

 of mouse little is definitely known. I have found no men- 

 tion of the animal in scientific literature previous to 1890. 

 The fact that it is called the Chinese dancing mouse, the 

 Japanese dancing mouse, and the Japanese waltzing mouse 

 is indicative of the existing uncertainty concerning the origin 

 of the race. 



Thinking that Japanese literature might furnish more in- 

 formation bearing on the question of racial history than was 



