Joe Malone, age 10, of Peoria, I11., for his question:

WHEN A MOSQUITO BITES YOU, DOES IT DIE LIKE A BEE?

Actually, neither a bee nor a mosquito "bites" you. The painful sting from a bee is the result of a needle sharp stinger puncturing the skin. As the stinger enters the skin, poison from the bee's body is pumped down into the flesh to make the sting all the more effective. For the worker honeybee, however, use of the stinger is restricted to only one jab. Upon insertion, part of the vital abdominal parts are pulled with it, and the bee dies a few hours later.

The pesky mosquito bites  or rather stabs  again and again. The female is the culprit here, for the male proboscis is too weak to jab human flesh. With no teeth, and unable to open her jaws, Mrs. Mosquito's "bite" is a stab into the flesh with her proboscis  a long, sharp bloodsucking utensil. This beak contains stylets which puncture the skin, and as her saliva mixes with the blood, she sucks it into her body for nourishment.  Unhappily for us mere mortals, Mrs. Mosquito's proboscis is good for a lifetime of painful, itchy "bites."