358 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
a good many kitten (furcula) and poplar hawk (Populi) eggs 
on this same tree.”"—The name of my young correspondent 
is H. A. Bull.—J. Greene; Apsley Road, July 10, 1871. 
As these insect-atoms were very lively and active, it is 
probable that many escaped before they reached my hands, 
when they were only nineteen in number; and these, having 
been examined by Mr. Walker, are pronounced to be hyme- 
nopterous egg-parasites, the Trichogramma evanescens of 
Westwood. The egg in which they had passed their larval 
existence was that of Smerinthus Populi. 
Epwarp NEWMAN. 
Life-history of Acidalia prataria.—The parent moth was 
taken by Mr. J. P. Barrett, at Folkestone, during the third 
week in July, 1870; and the eggs were laid in a pocket 
collecting-box a day or two afterwards. The young larve 
emerged early in August; they were exceedingly long and 
slender, and were very active until the end of October; they 
were then placed in a large box with a quantity of withered 
Polygonum aviculare (common knot-grass), to which they 
attached themselves; some of them remained motionless 
until the end of March, others crawled about for a short time 
among the Polygonum: in neither instance could Mr. Barrett 
discover that they ate anything during the winter. Early in 
April they began to feed again, and continued eating until 
the middle of June, when they were full-fed. Mr. Barrett 
remarked that at the time of hybernation they varied greatly 
in the number of black spots, hereinafter to be described. 
The full-fed larva rests in a perfectly straight position, the 
head being porrected on the same plane as the body, but 
falls from its food-plant if annoyed, and lies wriggling and 
twisting on the ground in a most remarkable manner. The 
head is of nearly equal width with the second segment; 
the face is flat, truncate at the mouth, and at each 
extremity of the truncature is a conspicuous papilliform 
antenna, with a somewhat bulbous base; the body is long 
and slender, of nearly uniform breadth throughout, but 
slightly and very regularly increasing in breadth from 
(and including) the head to the anal extremity; the 
