They do _not_ bite, but they pierce with their mouth tubes, and that feels just as though they bit us. So we commonly speak of bugs as biting. If you wish to be very exact, we will hereafter speak of bugs as piercing or sucking. Now, Mr. Water Boatman, we are going to have a good look at you. Nell says it is not like silver any more, but just a little black and gray speckled bug. That is because it is now on top of the water. When it goes under it is surrounded with a layer of air, and that is what makes it look as though it had on a silver dress. May wants to know how it manages to take a layer of air down under the water. If you were to look at it with a magnifying glass, May, you would see it is covered with fine hairs; the air becomes entangled in these hairs. Do you not remember how the leaf of the jewel weed, or touch-me-not, as it is also called, shines when you plunge it in water? It, too, is covered with fine hairs that hold air. Many leaves shine in this way when put under water, and always because of the fine hairs that prevent the air from being pushed out by the water. You see the hairs on the bugs serve the same purpose as those on the leaves; they hold fast the air. Our water boatman breathes this air that surrounds him. You know how insects breathe do you not? Dear me, then I shall have to tell you. They have no lungs; of course, so they cannot breathe with lungs as we do. Take a long breath--see how your chest rises--that is because you filled your lungs full of air. Well, the insects have to breathe air. Every living thing has to breathe air. Nothing in the world could live without air. Even plants breathe the air, you know. Now, there is a little row of holes or pores along each side of the abdomen of the insect. These are the breathing pores. No, May, the insects do not breathe through their mouths, they breathe through their sides. [Illustration] You can see the breathing pores, or spiracles, as they are called, very plainly in many insects. You can see them on the abdomen of the locust, and in some caterpillars they are bright-colored spots. There are spiracles on the sides of the thorax, too, but they do not show so plainly as those on the abdomen. The spiracles open into air tubes that carry air to the blood of the insect. [Illustration: _Spiracles_] If you watch a grasshopper or a bee, you can plainly see it breathe. The abdomen moves in the bee as though it were panting. These movements of the abdomen cause the air to go in and out. All insects move their abdomens to send the air in and out, but it does not show plainly in all of them, for, though insects need air, some of them can get along with very little. Yes, John, insects have blood. It is not just like our blood, but still it is blood. It is not generally red in color, though sometimes it is reddish, and sometimes it is brown, or violet, or even bright green.