David Person, age 7, of Duluth, Minn.,for his question:

WHERE DO MOSQUITOES GO IN WINTER?

The pesky mosquitoes are always whizzing around in the summertime. They lurk outdoors and do their best to make our hikes and picnics miserable. But come fall they disappear from the scene. It's nice to see them go. But surely it would be nicer if they visited during the winter and left us alone to enjoy our summer. Actually, those flying mosquitoes are grown¬ups, and they cannot survive the winter weather.

However, they make plans for a next generation to arrive in the spring. The female mosquito lays batches of little white eggs, like a floating raft on a pond. The eggs hatch and become hungry little wrigglers that live in the water. Soon they turn into pupas and rest near the surface. In a few days they hatch into grown up mosquitoes and fly away. The female may lay several batches of eggs during the summer  and some wait for next spring. Right now, next summer's mosquitoes are sleeping as eggs or darting around as little wrigglers in the water.