The gibbet becomes uprooted as they sink and eventually falls, dragged over by the weight of its heavy burden.

I am assisting at the spectacle of the overturned stake, one of the most astonishing examples of rational accomplishment which has ever been recorded to the credit of the insect.
This, for one who is considering the problem of instinct, is an exciting moment.

But let us beware of forming conclusions as yet; we might be in too great a hurry.

Let us ask ourselves first whether the fall of the stake was intentional or fortuitous.

Did the Necrophori lay it bare with the express intention of causing it to fall?
Or did they, on the contrary, dig at its base solely in order to bury that part of the mole which lay on the ground?
that is the question, which, for the rest, is very easy to answer.
The experiment is repeated; but this time the gibbet is slanting and the Mole, hanging in a vertical position, touches the ground at a couple of inches from the base of the gibbet.