Margaret Woodbury, age 7, of Billings, Mont., for her question:

HOW MANY EGGS CAN A FLY LAY?

A female fly, depending on the species, lays from one to about 250 eggs at a time. During her lifetime she may lay as many as a thousand eggs.

An organ called the ovipositor is located at the tip of a female fly's abdomen. Through this opening the eggs are laid. The female may drop her eggs on water, on the ground or on other animals.

A female housefly usually pushes her ovipositor into soft masses if decaying plant or animal material and lays her eggs there. The eggs of many kinds of flies are white or pale yellow and look like grains of rice. A housefly's eggs will hatch in between 8 and 30 hours.