This report stems from an interview with the noted scientist:

Professor Ludwig von Twinklebein, who recently retired from the University of Oopsoula and now is located at the South City Mental Institutlon. The confines of the professor's new home and laboratory were becoming too much for his fatigued mind until he befriended a flea. He undertook the task of learning all he could of the flea's intellectual capabilities and sought to train his new-found friend.

After training the flea for six years, the professor was able to get a response to certain voice-commands. The most gratifying aspect of the experiment was the one in which the professor would shout the command, JUMP and the flea would leap into the air each time the command was given.

Professor von Twinklebein was about to submit this remarkable feat to posterity via a scientific journal, but he, in the manner of the true scientist, decided to take his experiments one step further. He sought to determine the location of the receptor of the commands. In doing so, he removed the legs of the flea, one at a time. The flea obligingly continued to jump upon command, but as each successive leg was removed, his jumps became less spectacular. Finally, with the removal of his last leg, the flea remained motionless. Time after time the command failed to get the usual response.

The professor decided that at last he could publish his findings. He set pen to paper and described in immaculate detail the experiments executed in his laboratory over the years. His conclusion was one that startled the scientific world -

When the legs of fleas are removed they no longer can hear.