CONCLUSION. 



16 



surpassed The value of the animals is large when good coloured 

 ones are obtained, and they are always saleable. The cages may be 

 made by anyone and at a small cost, unless large fancy cages are 

 used. The great enemy — offensive smell — is not noticed to any 

 appreciable degree if our rules are followed ; and we are sure no one 

 will object to such a slight scent as they give off when kept clean. 

 As the animals, as a rule, are so healthy, no expense in medicines 

 has to be defrayed, and as this is not the rule with the generality of 

 other pets, it is an immense advantage. We may add that the price 

 for ordinary colours varies from 6d. to 55. per pair, while unusual 

 colours fetch from 55. to 10s. per pair, as a rule, while it sometimes 

 happens that a tortoiseshell will fetch double the latter amount. 



Some time after the publication of the first edition of this little 

 book, the following interesting and valuable letter, from the pen of 

 Dr. C. Carter Blake, lecturer on comparative anatomy and zoology 

 at Westminster Hospital, appeared in The Bazaar : 



" Sir, — Fancy mice have always been a popular source of recreation. 

 Children keep them, without any fear lest their pets should be found 

 out in after life to be mere half-imbecile smooth brained mammals. 

 My object in these lines is to attempt to prove to readers that a 

 material exists, accessible to all, which will enable any rational 

 student to test the laws of hybridity and reversion of varieties. To 

 make my ground clear, I may point out what is known and current 

 respecting the varieties of mice. Not to bore my readers too much 

 with technicalities, I shall only allude to three authorities, Pallas, 

 Fischer, and Bell. 



" Pallas, in his Nova Species Quadrupedunie Glirium Ordine, 4to, 

 Erlangen, 1786, perhaps the best monograph on the mice that has ever 

 been published, tells us only of three varieties : One black-coloured, 

 like the rat ; one of the ordinary colour (that is to say, dark grey 

 above and light grey below), but of which the trunk is covered with 

 large white spots ; and one entirely white, with red eyes. 



"Fischer, in his Synopsis Mammalium, 8vo, Stuttgardt, 1829, 

 gives five varieties : One entirely black, one helvolus, one spotted 

 with white, one white spotted with grey, and one entirely white with 

 red eyes. Of course, one of the first elements of doubt in this descrip- 

 tion is what special variety, now known or recognisable to us, can be 

 identified under the word helvolus. There is no mouse, except the 

 albino, to which the definition ' flesh coloured' could possibly apply, 

 and even in the case of the albino it would only be true of the tail, 

 wherein the epithet would be alike definite and recognisable. That 

 helvolus has by Littleton been translated flesh-colour, every-one 

 knows. Nor in the present day, when men, including Mr. Gladstone, 

 are disputing respecting the precise meaning of the Greek word, 

 used to denote colour, shall I attempt to particularise all the mean- 

 ings that may be attached to the word helvolus. The shades of 

 broAvn have always formed difficulties for the zoologist. I shall, 

 however, for the sake of convenience, suppose that fuscus is dark 

 brown or dun ; fulvus, light brown, bay, or chestnut ; and helvolus 



B 



