In this case all my experiments emphatically assert that the fall of the stake undermined by the sextons is a pure matter of imagination.
Yet another of the fine arguments in favour of the reasoning power of animals flies from the light of investigation and founders in the slough of error! I admire your simple faith, you masters who take seriously the statements of chance-met observers, richer in imagination than in veracity; I admire your credulous zeal, when, without criticism, you build up your theories on such absurdities.
Let us proceed.

The stake is henceforth planted vertically, but the body hanging on it does not reach the base: a condition which suffices to ensure that there is never any digging at this point.

I make use of a Mouse, who, by reason of her trifling weight, will lend herself better to the insect's manoeuvres.

The dead body is fixed by the hind-legs to the top of the stake with a ligature of raphia.

It hangs plumb, in contact with the stick.
Very soon two Necrophori have discovered the tit-bit.