Nancy Slezak, age 8, of Southampton, Pennsylvania, for her question:

Where do fireflies go in winter?

The experts tell us that the pretty little fireflies are really beetles. They grow up in four stages and they time the stages to suit the season of the year. The grown ups have wings to fly around, flashing their dainty lights on summer evenings. These are the parents. Between flashes, the mothers find time to lay batches of eggs in the ground. Sometimes the little white eggs are hidden in fallen leaves or in rotting bits of wood. If the summer is still young, they have time to hatch grubs and the grubs have time to change to sleeping chrysalises.

If the summer is coming to an end, the eggs may wait in the ground until next spring. Sometimes the grubs hide in the ground through the winter and sometimes the chrysalises do too. When next summer comes around, all these future fireflies turn into winged insects    all set to flash their signals in the warm evening air.