LA 11 
LAR 
the parish where the robberj- was eom- 
mitted. 
With respect to the offence of larceny, it 
is difficult in so short a compass to define 
the particular distinctions which have been 
made ; but it may be useful to mention some 
general particulars. 
To constitute a larceny there must be a 
taking the goods without the consent of the 
owner ; so that a fair loan, borrowing, or 
receipt of goods upon trust, which are af- 
terwards converted, with intention to steal, 
to the use of the borrower, does not con- 
stitute a larceny or theft ; but there are 
cases in which servants who have goods de- 
livered to tliem, also apprentices, bankers 
clerks, and others, may be guilty of lar- 
ceny ; and there are others where the deli- 
very of goods having been obtained by 
fraud, for the purpose of stealing them, a 
theft is held to be committed. A man may 
also be guilty of this offence, though the 
goods are his own, as where he steals goods 
from a pawnbroker, or other person who 
has a property in them for a particular pur- 
pose and limited time, with intent to charge 
him with the loss. 
The felonious taking must also be from 
the possession of the owner ; that is, either 
constructively or actually his possession; 
which may be where the thief has the ac- 
tual possession, as a watch delivered for the 
purpose of being pawned. And the goods 
must be personal chattels, not such as sa- 
vour of the realty, such as standing corn ; 
but corn cut, or trees felled, are personal 
chattels, and may be the subject of larceny ; 
and there are many statutes which make 
stealing certain articles, as lead, iron, and 
other things specified, affixed to the house 
or freehold, larceny. Bonds and bills were 
not such property as could be said to be 
stolen at common law, but they are made 
so by the statute law. 'And tlioiigh it can- 
not be committed of vile animals which 
are wild by nature, yet the stealing of do- 
mesticated and tame animals is larceny, 
such as dogs, horses, fowls, and even hawks. 
LARIX, in botany, the larch-tree, a spe- 
cies of Finns. See the article Pin us. 
LARK. See Alauda. 
LARVA, in natural history. The larva 
state of insects, in general, denotes caterpil- 
lars of all kinds. The caterpillar state is that 
through which every butterfly must pass be- 
fore it arrives at its perfection and beauty. 
The change from caterpillar to butterfly 
was long esteemed a sort of metamorphosis, 
or real change of one animal into another ; 
but this is by no means the case. The egg 
of a butterfly produces a butterfly, with all 
the lineaments of its parent ; only these are 
not disclosed at first, but for the greater 
part of the animal’s life they are covered 
with a sort of case or muscular coat, in 
which are legs for walking : these only suit 
it in this state, but its mouth takes in nou- 
rishment, which is conveyed to the included 
animal ; and after a proper time this cover- 
ing is thrown off, and the butterfly, which 
all the while might be discovered in it by 
an accurate observer with the help of a 
microscope, appears in its proper form. 
The care of all the butterfly tribe to lodge 
their eggs in safety is surprising. Those 
whose eggs are to be hatched in a few 
weeks, and who are to live in the caterpillar 
state during part of the remaining summer, 
always lay them on the leaves of such plants 
as will afford a proper nourishment ; but, 
on the contrary, tliose whose eggs are to 
remain unhatched till tlie following spring, 
always lay them on the branches of trees 
and shrubs, and usually are careful to select 
such places as are least exposed to the 
rigour of the ensuing season, and frequently 
cover them from it in an artful manner. 
Some make a general coat of a hairy matter 
over tliem, taking the hairs from their own 
bodies for that purpose ; others hide them- 
selves in hollow places in trees, and in other 
sheltered cells, and there live in a kind of 
torpid state during the whole winter, that 
they may deposit their eggs in the succeed- 
ing springs at a time when there yvill be no 
severities of weather for them to combat. 
The day-butterflies only do this, and of 
these but a very few species : but the night 
ones, or phalenae, all, without exception, 
lay their eggs as soon as they have been in 
copulation with the male, and die imme- 
diately afterwards. 
Nothing is more surprising in insects than 
their industry ; and in this the caterpillars 
yield to no kind, not to mention their silk, 
the spinning of which is one great proof of 
it. The sbeatlis and cases which some of 
these insects build for passing their trans- 
formations under, are by some made with 
their own hair, mixed with pieces of bark, 
leaves, and other parts of trees, with paper, 
and other materials; and the structure of 
these is well worthy our attention. Yet 
there are others whose workmanship in this 
article, far exceeds these. There is one 
which builds in wood, and is able to give its 
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