Genus Synchloe 



which, if correct, will force us. according to the law of priority, 

 to substitute the name given by Bates for that given by Edwards! 



Genus SYNCHLOE, Boisduval 

 (The Patched Butterflies) 



^^///^r/j'.— Medium-sized or small butterflies, rather gaily 

 colored, although the species found in the United States are not 

 very brilliant. They may be distinguished structurally from the 

 butterflies of the two preceding genera not 

 only by their larger size and the spindle- 

 formed third article of the palpi, which in 

 the genera Eresia and Pbyciodes is thin and 

 pointed like a needle, but also by the fact 

 that the lower discocellular vein of the fore 

 wings is generally quite straight and not 

 bowed or angled as in the before-mentioned 

 genera. 



£^^.— Similar in appearance to the eggs 

 of the genus Pbyciodes: obovoid, truncated c,^ .^^ .• c 



„j 1- I ,, J , riG. 94.— Neurationof 



and slightly depressed at top, rounded at the the genus Sfnchhe, en- 

 bottom ; the lower three fifths with shallow ^'"■^'^^'^• 

 depressions ; the upper part with about twenty-four light blunt- 

 edged ribs. The eggs are laid in clusters upon the leaves of 

 Helianthus. 



Caterpillar.— Wiuymg in color, generally black or some shade 

 of red or brown, covered with spines which are arranged as in 

 the genus Melitixa and are thickly beset with diverging bristles. 

 The caterpillar moults four times. 



C/j';:>'5^//5.— Shaped as in the genus Melitcva, light in color, 

 blotched with dark-brown or black spots and lines. 



The genus is well represented in Central and South America. 

 Some of the species are polymorphic, many varieties being pro- 

 duced from a single batch of eggs. The result has been con- 

 siderable confusion in the specific nomenclature. 



(i) Synchloe janais, Drury, Plate XVIII, Fig. 10, S (The 

 Crimson-patch). 



Butterfly.— Vox t wings black above, spotted with white; 

 hind wings black above, marked in the center with a broad band 



159 



