rubbish in the fields and
vineyards, ready when the warm spring does come to begin their naughty
work."

"What makes a little fellow like this able to do so much damage?" asked
Jimmie, who had come in, his hands all stained with chemicals.

"Well, it is well covered by this horny substance called chitin, and
then it is very active. You see, the chitin acts both as armor-plate for
the soft parts and also as a firm support to the many muscles. As many
as two thousand separate, tiny muscles have been counted in a certain
caterpillar. That shows how very active insects are."

"And they all have such big eyes they can see everything," said Betty.

"So they have--bigger eyes than the old wolf of the story had."

"You remember, I told you about the thousands of facets in the big eyes
of the darning-needle? Not contented with these large eyes, most insects
have three small eyes arranged in the form of a triangle on the front of
the head."

"This bug has feelers, too," said Jimmie.

"So it has. Insects use these feelers, or antennae, for all sorts of
purposes--some for touch, some for smell, some for hearing. Ants
exchange greetings by touching antennae, and recognize a friend or an
enemy by the odor. The antennae of a male mosquito are covered with fine
hairs. When Mrs. Mosquito sings, all the tiny hairs on Mr. Mosquito's
feelers are set in motion, and he becomes aware of Mrs. Mosquito."

Mrs. Reece laughed. "That's a new kind of romance!"

"Mother, what's a romance?" asked Betty.

"You'll know, dear, in time."

"Notice this imp's mouth," said the guide. "It's made for sucking. But
there's a great difference in the mouths of insects: some are made for
biting, some for lapping, some for piercing, and some for sucking. The
butterfly, which lives on nectar in the depths of the flowers, has a
long, coiled tube which scientists call a proboscis. This it unrolls and
buries in the throat of the flower. Mrs. Mosquito has a file and pump,
for it is she, and not her husband, who does all the singing and biting.
The male mosquito has nothing more than a mouth for sucking nectar. And
I told you about the biting jaws of the locust with which it nibbles
grass and leaves."

"And does the tree-hopper breathe the way the locust does--through those
pores on the side?"

"Yes, child," said the old man, "and the air-pores are protected by fine
hairs which surround the openings, just the way the hairs in your
nostrils keep the dust