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. 



Edward Newman. 



Life-histo7'y 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 larvae 

 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 



