Bobby O'Grady, age 10, of Tyndall, S.D. for his question:

Why don't mosquitoes bite in the winter time?

Squadrons of mosquitoes are always there, it seems, to spoil our summer picnics. But in winter, when picnicking in most places is impossible, the mosquitoes are nowhere to be seen. This is because the adult insects are not around during the winter, and it is only the adult mosquitoes that bother us. There are mosquitoes around in all seasons, but in winter they are in less troublesome forms.

The female mosquito lays her eggs in the water where they hatch into hungry grubs. The grubs become pupae that finally hatch into adult winged mosquitoes. Only then do they leave the water and take to the air. Next summer's mosquitoes are safely hidden during the winter in the waters of ponds and streams as eggs, larvae or pupae. In the far north they survive the winter under the moist snow.