24 INSECT LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



they do very often, then they are quite white. 

 So every party of these cheerful little creatures 

 contains some black and some white ones. 



The Spring-tail has gained its name from 

 the funny way it has of tucking its tail under 

 its body and then letting it spring back with 

 a sudden jerk, which sends the little insect 

 bouncing up into the air like a ball. It is so 

 small and light that it cannot possibly sink 

 through the surface-film, no matter how it 

 may hop and bound about. 



When the days become cold and food is 

 scarce, the Spring-tails go below and bury 

 themselves in the mud at the bottom of the 

 pond ; and the only way they can manage to 

 get beneath the surface film is by grasping 

 the stems of the water weeds and regularly 

 pushing themselves through. They never get 

 wet even when right under water, for they 

 carry with them quantities of minute air- 

 bubbles entangled in the short, thick hair 

 with which they are covered. So each little 

 Spring-tail is completely enclosed in a glisten- 

 ing coat of air. 



But I fear the water world is a dangerous 

 place for little Spring-tails and other wee 

 water-dwellers. At the top of the pools 



