Peggy Jo Sampson, age 11, of Burgess, Virginia,for her question

Is it true that only the female mosquito bites?

When we bite we use out teeth to cut off a polite morsel of food, then we chew it to a pulp and swallow it. The mosquito has no teeth, Its amazing mouth is so strange that it makes you think of some imaginary creature from outer space. The pesky creature cannot bite, or even take solid food as we do. What we call a mosquito bite is not really a bite at all   though it is quits true that we are attacked only by Madam Mosquito and not her husband.
Many insects can dine only on liquid food. This is true of both Mr. and Mrs. Mosquito and their many cousins. Our Mrs. Mosquito is a tougher character than her husband in many respects. He flits through the night on silent wings. Her strong, gauzy wings beat with a whirring whizz. We have nothing to fear from the quiet male. But the buzz of the female is a danger signal and you can bet your boots that the blood thirsty little lady is getting ready to zoom in for a landing  and her target is your soft, warm skin.
Her favorite food is rich, liquid blood. She is very fond of warm human blood, but she also attacks birds and bunnies and even cold blooded turtles. She does not care much who or what animal she attacks, so long as the blood is in liquid form. She zooms around seeking a likely patch of skin and then settles down to dine in secret silence.
Her long beak is a surgical kit of delicate instruments and she performs her operation with such skill that you do not feel it until too late. The tool kit contains a pair of knives, a pair of saws and two syringes. The slender instruments are kept in a soft case which is actually her lower lip. When she lands on your akin, softer than a snowflake, she uses two feelers to find a likely spot. Then the tool kit is placed in  position.
The tiny knives pierce the skin and the cower of the toolkit rolls itself in a loop. The tiny siringes are used to complete the painless incision through the skin to the blood vessel below. Now the first. syringe injects a squirt of saliva which retains a, chemical to keep the blood from clotting. The second singe then sucks up the liquid foal. Mr. Mosquito does not have the strong "beak and surgical instruments to pierce skin. He feeds on the juices he can sip from leaves and other tender morsels of the plant world.
 Mrs. Mosquito usually feeds herself and flies away long before we know we have bean attacked.. Her blood thirsty operation begins to hurt only after wards. The itchy bump is caused by the saliva she injected into the flesh. This fluid prevents the blood from becoming thick and it contains the chemicals which cause the swelling and irritation which follow the mosquito's attack.