Abstract
SUMMARY: Thirty-one inbred strains were tested for their reaction to drinking water which contained a low concentration (10−4 M) of sucrose octaacetate (SOA). One strain, SWR, showed a strong aversion to drinking the SOA solution. The other thirty strains, and two samples of wild-derived mice, tended to prefer the SOA solution to untreated drinking water. The pheno-typic difference between SWR and the other strains was shown to be determined by an autosomal gene. The allele present in SWR is dominant. The gene is not closely linked to jerker (je), pearl (pe) or waved-2 (wa-2).