The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



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 ap- 

 paratus. Under these conditions, absolutely 

 no attempt is made to overthrow it. Not 

 the least scrape of a claw is delivered at the 

 foot of the gibbet. The entire work of ex- 

 cavation is performed at a distance, under 

 the body, whose shoulders are lying on the 

 ground. Here and here only a hole is dug 

 to receive the front of the body, the part 

 accessible to the sextons. 



A difference of an inch in the position of 

 the suspended animal destroys the famous 

 legend. Even so, many a time, the most 

 elementary sieve, handled with a little logic, 

 is enough to winnow a confused mass of 

 statements and to release the good grain of 

 truth. 



Yet another shake of this sieve. The gib- 

 bet is slanting or perpendicular, no matter 

 which; but the Mole, fixed by his hind-legs 

 to the top of the twig, does not touch the 

 soil; he hangs a few fingers'-breadths from 

 the ground, out of the sextons' reach. 



What will they do now? Will they 

 336 



