NYMPHALIDiE. CYNTHIA. i? 



Genus XII. — Cynthia, Fahrkms. 



Palpi long, contiguous, porrected, terminated gradually in an acute point, 

 pointing downwards, and resembling a beak, tbickly clothed with scales and 

 short hair, three-jointed; the basal joint short, curved upwards; second long, 

 compressed, attenuated at the apex ; third longer than the basal, acicular : 

 uniennee with an abrupt, compressed, very short club: wings scalloped; an- 

 terior triangular, subfalcate ; posterior somewhat ovate, clothed with long 

 hairs on their upper surface within : anterior legs imperfect, very hairy, re- 

 sembhng a tippet : tarsi with small nails, apparently bifid, or with an ungui- 

 form appendage: eyes very pubescent. Caterpillar spiny. Chrysalis an- 

 gular, with the head bituberculated, with metallic spots. 



This genus chiefly differs from Vanessa in the form of the wings, 

 connected with the slightly dissimilar proportion and structure of 

 the joints of the palpi, and of the antennte, which latter have a 

 different club, and appear to possess a few more articulations : the 

 larva is less spinose, and the pupa less angular. The species 

 figured by Petiver I have introduced in this genus, as its form is 

 more analogous thereto, than to that of the Hipparchise, with which 

 it has been recently arranged. 



Sp. 1. Cardui. Alis Juho-roseis alho nigroque variegatis, posticis infra mar- 



moratis ocellis quatuor. (Exp. alar. 2 unc. 4.-8 lin.) 

 Pa. Cardui. Liniie. — Lewin, pi. 6.— Cy. Cardui. Steph. Catal. 



Anterior wings above tawny-brown at the base and their inner margin ; the 

 middle fulvous, tinged with orange and red, with an irregular, angulated, 

 transverse band, composed of three unequal black spots: tlie tip black, with 

 five dissimilar white spots, of which the basal one is largest, and is placed 

 transversely ; the other four are ranged parallel with the hinder margin, in 

 a bow, the two central being smallest and nearly round : between them and 

 the edge is an obsolete series of white lunules: the margin is black, with 

 brown and white dashes : the posterior wings above are tawny-brown at the 

 base, sometimes with a paler spot, the posterior margin tawny-orange, with 

 a triple parallel series of black spots, of which the central is composed of ob- 

 long ones; the interior of round (usually five in number), and the marginal 

 of irregular spots : the cilia are white interrupted by black : the second 

 areolet has at the tip a slight bluish spot : beneath, the anterior wings some- 

 what resemble the upper surface, but in recent specimens they are adorned 

 with a rich carmine tint, and the base is whitish, and a white bar adjoins the 

 black interrupted band on the anterior margin : the costal areolet is trans- 

 versely streaked with black and white, and the tip is light greenish-brown, 

 with five white spots corresponding with those on the upper surface, the two 

 smallest of which are somewhat ocellatcd, having a black margin, which is 

 broadest interiorly : the posterior wings arc prettily clouded and marbled 



