Interaction of aggressive and sexual behavior in male mice.

I. Eleven albino males (ST/J) and eleven black-agouti males (CBA/J) were fought interstrain, in round-robin fashion, once a week for eleven weeks in the presence of an estrus induced albino female (ST/J). 2. The CBA males were superior in both fighting ability and mating success. 3. A comparison of the present results with those of our previous fighting experiments conducted without females present, shows that the presence of an estrus female significantly reduced the aggressiveness of the CBA males while affecting the ST males only by increasing their attack latency. 4. A comparison of the present results with those of our previous mating experiments conducted when the two types of males are housed together permanently and given natural estrus ST females, shows that mating success varies with experimental conditions, for in the earlier experiment the ST males were superior in mating. 5. The influence of hereditary background on the behavior of mice and the dependency of fighting ability and mating success upon the situation in which these behaviors are elicited are discussed.