The Dancing Mouse | Page 6

[symbol for female], born November 10, 1906, of
212 and 211. D, markings of No. 151 [symbol for female], born
February 28, 1906, of 1000 and 5, died February 26, 1907.]
What the Japanese have to say about the dancing mouse is of special
importance because Japan is rather commonly supposed to be its home.
For this reason, as well as because of the peculiar interest of the facts
mentioned, I quote at length from Doctor Kishi (21 p. 457). "The
dancing mouse has received in Europe this name which it does not bear
in its own home, because of the fact that the circular movements which
it makes are similar to the European (human) dance. Sometimes it is
also called the Japanese or Chinese mouse; originally, however, China
must have been its home, since in Japan it is mostly called 'Nankin
nesumi,' the mouse from Nankin. When this animal came from China to
Japan I shall inquire at a later opportunity. There were originally in
Japan two different species of mouse, the gray and the white; therefore
in order to distinguish our dancing mouse from these it was necessary
to use the name of its native city.
"In Japan, as in Europe, the animal lives as a house animal in small

cages, but the interest which is taken in it there is shown in quite
another way than in Europe, where the whirling movements, to which
the name dancing mouse is due, are of chief interest. For this reason in
Europe it is given as much room as possible in its cage that it may
dance conveniently. In Japan also the circular movements have been
known for a long time, but this has had no influence upon our interest
in the animal, for the human fashion of dancing with us is quite
different from that in Europe. What has lent interest to the creature for
us are its prettiness, its 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. Running 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 mention 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 information
bearing on the question of racial history than was available from
European sources, I wrote to Professor Mitsukuri of the University of
Tokyo, asking him whether any reliable records of the dancer existed in
Japan. He replied as follows: "I have tried to find what is known in
Japan about the history of the Japanese waltzing mice, but I am sorry to
say that the results are wholly negative. I cannot find any account of the
origin of this freak, either authentic or fictitious, and, strange as it may
seem to you, no study of the mice in a modern sense has been made, so
you may consider the literature on the mouse in the Japanese language
as absolutely nil." In explanation of this somewhat surprising ignorance
of the origin of the race in what is commonly supposed to be its native
land, Professor Mitsukuri adds: "The breeders of the mice have mostly
been ignorant men to whom writing is anything but easy."
In response to similar inquiries, I received