中國人在鬥蟋蟀博戲中使用一種特殊的工具芡草，提高和恢復蟋蟀的鬥性。芡草的原料從青蒿逐漸發展為鼠鬚和牛筋草，其含義發生了泛化。本文以動物行為學分析芡法，發現古人通過芡草刺激蟋蟀腿部使其彈腿以提高其鬥性，實際上是利用了動物行為學中的替代活動原理。古人將芡法用於蟋蟀的日常訓練、開局引逗、局間導引、分局引逗各個階段，並已認識到該法的使用限度。

Chinese use a special tool called qiancao (cricket tickler) to stimulate crickets’ fighting behavior and to increase or restore their aggressiveness in cricket fighting games. The meaning of qiancao has broadened with its raw material changing from Artemisia to rat whiskers and
Gramineae. By analyzing tickling methods under ethological framework, we have found that ancient Chinese increased crickets’ aggressiveness by tickling their jumping legs to induce leg spring, which conforms to the principle of displacement activity in ethology. The ticklers are used in the following four stages, regular training, pre-fight stirring, guiding and after fight stirring. Ancient Chinese realized the limitation of both a cricket’s aggressiveness and the effectiveness of a cricket tickler.