James b. Wozniak, age 8, of Glendale, ariz., for his question:

Is it true that the dinosaurs layed eggs?

Oh, yes, this is quite true, for the dinosaurs were reptiles  and most of the world's reptiles still lay eggs. But reptile eggs are not quite like bird's eggs. They have soft, whitish skin instead of crisp, hard shells. Many reptile eggs are round balls and the oval ones have blunt, round ends.

Most of our reptiles bury their eggs in shallow hollows and leave them to hatch in the warm ground. This is what most of the dinosaurs must have done. Some dinosaur eggs stayed in the ground for ages and turned into hard fossils. Our scientists have found several nests of dinosaur eggs, and some of these stony fossils show baby Dinosaurs breaking out of their shells.