60 
FINDING NATURE'S TREASURES 
“What is that thing on top of the water which looks 
like a tiny boat?” asked Marylee. 
“That is a kind of boat/’ replied Uncle Jack. “Mrs. 
Mosquito lays her eggs on top of the water and fastens 
them together as you see them, so that they will float. 
Each egg is so small that you can hardly see it. It is 
long, with one end down in the water. When the baby 
wiggle-tail is ready to come out, he makes a hole in the 
bottom end of the egg, and there he is right in the water 
where he wants to be.” 
“He punches a hole in the bottom of the boat, doesn’t 
he?” remarked Buddy. 
“Yes, that is just what he does,” Uncle Jack re¬ 
plied. “We can’t see the wiggle-tails very well in this 
can. Buddy, ask your mother for an empty glass jar.” 
Buddy got a jar, and Uncle Jack poured the water 
from the can into it. 
“My, how many there are of them!” said Marylee. 
“See them wriggle their funny little tails. They wriggle 
down to the bottom, and then, in a little while, they 
float up to the top. Why do they touch the top of the 
water with their tails, and hang for a moment with 
their heads down?” 
“They are breathing,” answered Uncle Jack, “but not 
through noses like you do. They stick their tails just 
above the top of the water and breathe through them.” 
“But some of them do not put their tails up to the top 
of the water, they stick up their ears,” declared Marylee. 
“Are they breathing through their ears instead of their 
tails?” 
