L A l\ 
LAS 
L A T 
51 
enemy to the eider duck. It very greedily 
devours carrion, though its most general 
food is fish. It is common also in America, 
as low as South Carolina, where it is called 
the old-wife. 
2. The cataractes, or Skua gull, is in 
length two feet; the extent four feet and a 
halt; the weight three pounds; the feathers 
: on the head, neck, back, scapulars, and co- 
i verts of the wing's, are of a deep brown, mark- 
ed with rust-colour (brightest in the male). 
The breast, belly, and vent are ferruginous, 
tinged with ash-colour. This bird inhabits 
Norway, the Fence isles, Shetland, and the 
noted rock Foula a htrie west of them. It is 
also a native of the South Sea. It is the most 
j formidable of the gulls; its prey being not 
only fish, but what is wonderful in a web- 
footed bird, all the lesser sort of water-fow 1, 
such as teal, &c. Mr. Schroter, a surgeon in 
the Ferroe isles, relates that it likewise preys 
| on ducks, poultry, and even young lambs. 
The natives of the Orkneys are often very 
rudely treated by them while they are at- 
[ tending their sheep on the hills, and are 
| obliged to guard their heads by holding up 
| their sticks, cm which the birds often" kill 
| themselves. In Foula it is a privileged bird, 
j because it defends the tlocks trom the eagle, 
which it beats and pursues with great fury ; 
so that even that rapacious bird seldom ven- 
tures near its quarters. 
3. 'Fhe parasiticus, or clung-lmnter, is in 
lengtli 2 1 inches : the upper parts of the body, 
wings, and tail, are black ; the base of the 
quills white on the inner webs ; and the two 
j middle feathers of the tail are near four 
j inches longer than the rest. This is a north- 
I ern species, and very common in the He- 
I brides, where it breeds on heath. It comes 
in May, and retires in August; and if disturb- 
| ed flies about like the lapwing, but soon 
alights. It is also found in the Orkneys; and 
j on the coasts of Yorkshire, where it is called 
the leaser. This bird does not often swim, 
and flies generally in a slow manner, except 
| in pursuit of other birds, which it often at- 
] tacks, in order to make them disgorge the 
fish or other food which Ihrs common plun- 
j derer greedily catches up. 
4. The canus, or common gull, is in length 
16 or 17 inches; in breadth 36 ; weight one 
! pound. The bill is yellow ; the head, neck, 
I: under parts of the body and tail are white ; 
j: the back and wings pale-grey. It is a tame 
species, and may be seen by hundreds on the 
I shores of the Thames and other rivers, in the 
winter and spring, at low tides, picking up 
the various worms and small fish left by the 
tide's; and will often follow the plough in the 
fields contiguous, for the sake of worms and 
| insects which are turned up ; particularly the 
j cockchafer or dorbeetle in its larva .state, 
which it joins with the rooks in devouring 
most greedily. 
5. The tridactylus, or tarrock, is in length 
1.4 incites, breadth 36 ; weight seven ounces. 
The head, neck, and under parts, are white ; 
near each ear, and under the throat, there is 
a black spot ; and at the hind part of the neck 
a crescent of black ; the back and scapulars 
are blueish-grey ; the wing-coverts dusky edg- 
ed with grey, some of the larger wholly grey. 
This species breeds in Scotland, and inhabits 
other parts of northern Europe, quite to Ice- 
land and Spitsbergen. It is observed fre- 
quently to attend the whales and seals, for 
the sake of the fish which the last drive be- 
fore them into the shallows, when these birds 
dart into the water suddenly, and make them 
their prey. 
6. The ridibundus, peewit, or black-head 
gull, is in length 15 inches, breadth three 
feet ; weight ten ounces ; the back and wings 
are of an ash-colour; the neck, all the under 
parts, and tail, are white; the first ten quills 
are white, margined, and more or less tipped 
with b’ack ; the others of an ash-colour. This 
species breeds on the shores of some of our 
rivers; but full as often in the inland fens of 
Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and otiier 
parts of England. They make their nest 
on the ground, with rushes, dead grass, &c. 
and lay three eggs of a greenish brown, mark- 
ed with red-brown blotches. After the breed- 
ing season, they again disperse to the sea- 
coasts. The young birds in the neighbour- 
hood of the Thames are thought good eating, 
and are called the red legs. They were for- 
merly moce esteemed, and numbers were 
annually taken and fattened for the table. 
Whitelock, in his annals, mentions a piece 
of ground near Portsmouth, which produced 
to the owner 40/. a year by the sale of peewits, 
or this species of gull. These are the sea- 
gulls that in old times were admitted to the 
noblemen’s tables. The note of these gulls 
is like a hoarse laugh. 
7. The atricilla, or laughing gull, is in 
length 18 inches, breadth three feet. It is 
found in Russia on the river Don, particu- 
larly about Tschercask. The note resembles 
a coarse laugh, whence the name of the bird. 
It is met with also in different parts of the 
continent of America, and is very numerous 
in the Bahama islands. 
There are l4or 15 other species of this 
genus. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 242. 
LARYNX. See Anatomy. 
LASH, or Lace, in the sea language, sig- 
nifies to bind and make fast. 
LASERPITIUM, lazar-ivort, a genus of 
the digynia order, in the pentandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 45th order, umbellatsc. The fruit 
is oblong, with eight membranaceous angles ; 
the petals inflexed, emarginated, and patent. 
There are 15 species, none of which are at 
all remarkable for their beaut) - , so are only 
preserved in botanic gardens for the sake of 
variety. 
LASIOSTOMA, a genus of the class and 
order tetrandriamonogynia: the calyx is very 
short, five-petalled ; corolla funnel-form, foar- 
cleft; caps, orbiculate, one-celled, two-seed- 
ed. There is one species, a shrub of Guiana/ 
LASKETS, small lines, like loops, sewed 
to the bonnets and elrablers of a ship, to lash 
or lace the bonnets to the courses, or the 
drablers to the bonnets. 
TASKING, at sea, is much the same with 
going large, or veering, that is, going with a 
quarterly wind. 
LAST, in general, signifies the burden or 
load of a ship. It signifies also a certain mea- 
sure of fish, corn, wool, leather, &c. A last 
of codfish, white herrings, meal, and ashes for 
soap, is 12 barrels; of corn or rapeseed, 10 
quarters; of gunpowder 24 barrels; of red- 
herrings 20 cades; of hides 12 dozen; of lea- 
ther 20 dickers; of pitch and tar 14 barrels; 
ot wool 12 sacks ; of stock-fish 1000; of flax 
or feathers 1700 pounds. 
G 2 
LATH, in building, a long, thin, and nar- 
row slip of wood, nailed to the rafters of a 
roof or ceiling, in order to sustain the co- 
vering. These are distinguished into three 
kinds, according to the different kinds of 
wood of which they are made, viz. heart of 
oak, sap-laths, and deal-laths; of which the 
last two are used for ceilings and partitions, 
and the first for tiling only. Laths are also 
distinguished according to their length, into 
five-feet, four-feet, and three-feet laths, 
though the statute allows but of tw r o lengths, 
those of five and those of three feet, each of 
which ought to be an inch and a half in 
breadth, and half an inch in thickness, but 
they are commonly less. 
LATHE, a very useful engine for the turn- 
ing ot wood, ivory, metals, and other mate- 
rials. The invention of the lathe is very an- 
tient ; Diodorus Siculus says, the first who 
used it was a grandson of Dardalus, named 
Talus. Pliny ascribes it to Theodore of Sa- 
mos, and mentions one Thericles, who ren- 
dered himself very famous by his dextery in 
managing the lathe. With this instrument 
the antients turned all kinds of vases, many 
whereof they enriched with figures and orna- 
ments in basso relievo. Thus Virgil : “ Lenta 
quibus torno facili superaddita vitis.” The 
Greek and Latin authors make frequent men- 
tion of the lathe; and Cicero calls the work- 
men who used it vascularii. It was a proverb 
among the antients, to say a thing was formed 
in the lathe, to express its delicacy and just- 
ness. 
I he lathe is composed of two wooden 
cheeks or sides, parallel to the horizon, hav- 
ing a groove or opening between ; perpendi- 
cular to these are two other pieces called 
puppets, made to slide between the cheeks, 
a °d to be fixed down at any point at plea- 
sure. These have two points, between which 
the piece to be turned is sustained ; the piece 
is turned round, backwards and forward's, by 
means of a string put round it, and fastened 
above to the end of a pliable pole, and un- 
derneath to a treadle or board moved with 
the foot. There is also a rest which bears 
up the tool, and keeps it steady. 
I he most simple kind of lathe is too well 
known to require a more ample description. 
W e shall therefore give a figure of an im- 
proved lathe manufactured by Mr. Maudslay 
of Margaret-street. A ( Plate Miscel. fig. 
138.) is the great wheel, with four grooves 
on tire rim: it is wo.ked by a crank B and 
treadle C, in the common way ; the catgut 
which goes round this wheel passes also 
round a smaller wheel D, called the mandrel, 
which has four grooves on its circumference 
of different diameters for giving it different 
velocities, corresponding with the four grooves 
on the great wheel A. In order to make the 
same band suit when applied to all the dif- 
ferent grooves on the mandrel D, tire wheel 
A can be elevated or depressed by a screw a, 
and another at the other end of the axle ; and 
the connecting rod C can be lengthened or 
shortened by screwing the hooks at each end 
of it further out of, or into it. The end M, 
fig. 139. of the spindle of the mandrel D, is 
pointed, and works in a hole in the end of a 
screw, put through the standard E, fig. 138.; 
the other end of the bearing F, fig. 139. is 
conical, and works in a conical socket in 
the standard, so that by tightening up the 
