L A It 
See Cocles, vol. iv.—The name of Lartlus has been com¬ 
mon to many Romans. 
LAR'VA, f. [Lat. a malk.] The grub or caterpillar 
ftate of an in left. See the article Entomology, vol. vi. 
p. 834. 
In the New Tranfaftions of the Academy of Sciences 
at Stockholm, we have a curious account of the cure of a 
young woman, effefted by expelling from the ftomach, 
&c. the larvae of certain infefts. The account of this lin¬ 
gular cafe was tranfmitted to M. Odhelius, at Stockholm, 
together with fome of the larvae, by M. Flank, furgeon of 
Carlftadt, who, during thecourfe of forty years’ praftice 
never law any of the like kind difcharged from the human 
body. The patient, who was feventeen years of age, and 
who for three years had been quite regular, became indif- 
pofed in the year 1786, and complained of a violent pain 
and griping in her ftomach, with a head-ache and confu- 
lion in the morning, a burning in the throat, and great 
laftitude. Thefe fymptoms were leftened after repeated 
eruftation ; but the diforder ltill increaled. Mineral-wa¬ 
ter with jalap-powder was prefcribed, and the larvae be¬ 
gan gradually to be difcharged ; but,, as the patient did 
not find much relief, aloe-pills, with jalap-refin, and mer- 
curius dulcis, were adminiftered, and about a quart of 
mineral-water each time ; by which means thefe trouble- 
fome guefts were gradually fo completely expelled, that 
the patient, in the courfe of a few weeks, was perfeftly 
cured. The larvae were tranfmitted to the Cabinet of Cu- 
riofities belonging to the Academy of Sciences. Profef- 
for Wilke found, on examining them, that they were of 
the fpecies defcribed by Reaumur under the name of vers 
ei queue de rat, (rat-tailed worms,) and which belong to a 
kind of two-winged fly, called the pendulous fly, Mufca 
pendula Linn, becaufe the larvae are fitfpended, as it were, 
by a long thread, which is their organ of refpiration. See 
the article Musca. Thefe larvae, which the profelfor ex¬ 
amined, were of a yellowifli-brpwn colour, from four to 
fix lines in length, with a tail of about the fame extent; a 
cylindrical body, from half a line to a line in thicknefs, cut 
acrols fomewhat obliquely before, and conical towards the 
tail. As the patient, before fhe fell ill, had ufed a great 
deal of milk and cheefe, M. Wilke was of opinion, that 
fome of the eggs of thefe flies had been conveyed into her 
ftomach in the rind of the cheefe. New Tranf. vol. x. 
LAR'V/E, f. [from the Etrufcan lar, a prince or lord.] 
In antiquity, denoted the ghofts of the deceafed, conft- 
dered as wicked and mifchievous. Hence is formed the 
term larvatus , i. e. larva indutus, or demoniac. The in¬ 
genious Mr. Farmer urges the etymology and ufe of this 
term to prove, that the heathen demons were human 
ghofts. The larvse were alfo called lemures. 
LAR'VATED, adj. [ larvatus , Lat.] Malked. 
LARUCA'CHI, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of La 
Paz : no miles north of Chucuito. 
LAR'UM,yi [from alarum, or alarm.'] Alarm; noife 
denoting danger.—The peaking cornute, her hufband, 
dwelling in a continual larum of jealoufy, comes to me in 
the inftant of our encounter. Shakefpearc. 
His larum bell might loud and wide be heard. 
When caufe requir’d, but never out of time. Spenfer. 
An inftrument that makes a noife at a certain hour.—Of 
this nature was that Azrzwi, which, though it were but three 
inches big, yet would both wake a man, and of itfelf 
light a candle for him at any fet hour. Wilkins. —I fee men 
as lufty and ftrong that eat but two meals a-day, as others, 
that have fet their ftomachs, like larums, to call on them 
for four or five. Locke. 
The young./Eneas, all at once let down, 
Stunn’d with his giddy larum half the town. Dunciad. 
LAR'VIGEN, or Laur'wig, a feaport town of Nor¬ 
way, in the diocefe of Chriftiania, and capital of a county 
to which it gives name ; fituated at the conflux of two ri¬ 
vers near the fea. It is a place of confiderable trade, and 
Vol. XII. No. 8a6. 
LAR 249 
its iron-works are reckoned fome of the mod: valuable in 
Norway. It is fifty-fix miles fouth-fouth-weft of Chriftia¬ 
nia. Lat. 59. 3. N. Ion. 10. 15. E. 
LA'RUNS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Lower Pyrenees : eighteen miles fouth of Pau. 
LA'RUS,/. in ornithology, a genus of birds of the 
order of anferes,. including the Gulls and Mews. Ge¬ 
neric charafters: Bill plain, ftraight, knife-fhaped, and 
fomewhat hooked at the tip ; the under mandible fwelled 
below the tip. Noftrils flits, broader before, and feated 
in the middle of the bill. 
Thefe birds are natives of the northern climates; their 
body light, their wings long, tongue fomewhat cleft, bill 
ftrong, legs fliort, and naked above the knees. All the 
gulls and mews are alike voracious and clamorous; they 
might be ftyled the vultures of the fea : they devour car¬ 
rion of every kind which floats on the furface, or is cait 
on-fhore. As cowardly as they are gluttonous, they at¬ 
tack only weak animals, and vent their fury on dead bo¬ 
dies. Their ignoble port, their importunate cries, their 
edged and hooked bill, prefent the true pifture of birds 
fanguinary and cruel. They fight rancoroufly together 
on the fcene of carnage ; and when they are fliut up, 
and their ferocious humour is loured by captivity, they 
wound each other without apparent motive, and the firit 
from which blood is drawn falls a prey to the reft ; for 
they no fooner tafte the blood, than they tear in pieces the 
viftim which they had wounded without caufe. This ex- 
cefs of cruelty is moftly feen in the large fpecies ; but all 
of them continually watch an opportunity to fteal the 
foodorprey of their companions. Every thing is accept¬ 
able to their voracity : fill), whether frefh or putrid ; 
bloody flefh, recent or tainted ; fhell-fifli, and even bones ; 
all digeft in their ftomach. They fwallow the bait and 
the hook ; they dart with fuch violence as to transfix 
themfelves on the point where the filherman places the 
herring or pilchard as a fnare. Nor is this the only way to 
allure them ; Oppian aflerts, that, if a board be painted 
with figures of fifh, thefe birds will dafli againft it. All 
the gulls and mews have three toes connected by an en¬ 
tire membrane, and the hind toe detached, but very 
firnall ; their head is large, and its carriage ungraceful, 
being funk almoft between the flioulders, whether they 
walk or fleep. They run fwiftly on the beach, and fly 
ftill better above the waves : their long wings, which when 
clofed exceed the tail, and the quantity of feathers with 
which their body is clothed, make them very light. They 
have alfo a very thick down, which is of a bluifh colour, 
efptcially on the ftomach. They are hatched with that 
down, but the other feathers are late in growing; and 
they acquire not completely their colours, to wit, the fine 
white of the body, and the black or bluifh grey on the 
mantle, till after feveral moultings, and in their third 
year, which makes the difcrimination of the fpecies very 
difficult. Oppian feems to have known this progrefs of 
their colours ; for he fays that thefe birds, as they grow 
old, become blue. They keep in flocks on the fea-fhores j 
fome running, fome flying, and others alighting; the 
beach and the downs feem quickened by their numbers 
and their confufed motions, and refound with their 
noify cries. In general, no birds are more common on 
our coafts, and they are found a hundred leagues at fea. 
They frequent the iflands and maritime countries of every 
climate. Navigators meet with them in all parts of the 
globe. The larger fpecies feem attached to the fhores of 
the northern feas. It is reported that the gulls of the 
Ferro iflands are fo ftrong and voracious, that they often 
tear lambs in pieces, and tranfport the fragments to their 
nefts. In the icy ocean, they often gather in multitudes 
about the carcafes of whales ; and with fuch repafts they 
ealily fatiate their rapacity, and procure ample provifion 
for the innate gluttony of their young. Thefe birds ltrew 
their eggs and nefts by thoufands, even on the frozen 
lands of the two polar zones; nor do they quit thofe re¬ 
gions in the gloom of winter, but feem attached to their 
3 S native 
