The water goes in and out of this syringe, and the larva breathes as the
fish does, by means of its gills.

Yes, May, its gills are in its syringe, which seems very odd,--you see
the dragon fly larva breathes at its tail end instead of at its head
end.

Mollie thinks it is an upside-down, inside-out sort of a creature
anyway. But it knows what it is about.

Ned wants to know how it can get any air to breathe when it lives under
water.

The truth is, there is always air mixed in with water, and it is this
air the larva breathes when the water goes in and out of the syringe.

It uses the syringe for another purpose too. When it pleases it can
shoot out the water with great force, and thus propel itself quite a
distance.

By means of the syringe it can leap through the water faster than it can
move by its slow-going legs.

Mollie wants to know if we can see the syringe.

No, it is inside the body.

But there is a kind of dragon fly that has a pair of gills outside, at
the end of the abdomen, instead of the syringe inside.