LARAMIE MOUNTAINS 422 LABK rolling mills and machine shops. It is the seat of the State University, the State fish hatchery, and the State peni- tentiary; contains public and college libraries and St. Joseph's Hospital; and has electric light plants, waterworks, several newspapers. Pop. (1910) 8,237; (1920) 6,301. LARAMIE MOUNTAINS, a range which extends through Wyoming and Colorado, and bounds the Laramie Plains on the E. and N. E.; the highest point is Laramie Peak, 10,000 feet high. LARAMIE PLAINS, a plateau in Southern Wyoming, N. W. of Cheyenne, about 7,500 feet above sea-level. LARAMIE RIVER, a river rising in Northern Colorado and flowing into the North Platte at Fort Laramie in Eastern Wyoming; length about 200 miles. LARCENY, in law, the unlawful tak- ing and carrying or attempting to carry away the personal property of another, with intent to appropriate said goods, and thereby deprive the rightful owner of their use ; theft. In the United States in the different States larceny is vari- ously graded, some commonwealths dis- tinguishing it into grand and petit larceny, while others add the further dis- tinction of simple and compound. Of the two former classifications the differenti- ating circumstance is the value of the goods taken, the theft of less than $50 in value (generally) constituting petit lar- ceny, and of more than that amount grand larceny. LARCH, Abies larix, sometimes called Larix communis, the larches being ele- vated into a genus. It is called more fully the common white larch. It is a deciduous tree, grovnng rapidly, and furnishes a durable timber, which, how- ever, tends to twist and warp. The bark is used in tanning, being second in value, in this respect only, to oak. The com- mon larch yields Venetian turpentine, the branches a saccharine substance, called Manna of Briancon, and when larch forests take fire, a gum called Gtimmi orenhergense exudes from the branches. There is a variety of the common larch with white, and another with red flowers. Yet another, the Rus- sian larch, has cinereous bark. LARCOM, LUCY, an American poet; born in Beverly Farms, Mass., in 1826. In her youth she was a factory girl in Lowell, Mass.; was a student for a time at Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, 111.; afterward taught school ; but the greater part of her life was devoted to literary work. In 1866-1874 she edited "Our Young Folks." She wrote "Ships in the Mist, etc.," stories (1859), and four or five volumes of poetry ; also compiled and edited "Roadside Poems, etc." (1876); "Hillside and Seaside in Poetry" (1877) ; etc. She died in Boston, Mass., April 17, 1893. LARD, the fat of the hog. Till after the first quarter of the 19th century lard was used only for culinary purposes and as the base of various ointments in medi- cal use. Then large quantities were pressed at a low temperature, by which the stearine and oleine were separated. The former was used for candle-making; and the latter soon became an important article of commerce under the name "lard oil," a valuable lubricant for machinery. See Steaeine. LAREDO, a city and county-seat of Webb CO., Tex.; on the International and Great Northern, the Mexican National, and several other railroads; 153 miles W. of San Antonio. It is the trade center for the Rio Grande border. Laredo is in the great Rio Grande coal belt; is a health resort for victims of lung trou- bles; the seat of Laredo Seminary; con- tains Mercy and Mexican National Rail- road Hospitals ; and has manufactures of lumber and cigars, deposits of coal, iron, lead, zinc and copper, a large interna- tional and local trade. National banks, daily and weekly periodicals, and an as- sessed property valuation of $2,000,000. Pop. (1910) 14,855; (1920) 22,710. LARGS, a watering-place of Ayrshire, Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, 14 miles S. of Greenock. Here, Oct. 12, 1263, in a war between Scotland and the Norse colonies of Man and the Isles, Alexander III. defeated Haco of Norway, who with 160 ships and 20,000 men had descended on the coast of Ayrshire. LARISSA (la-re'sa) (called by the Turks Yenisher), famous in ancient times as the chief town of Thessaly, now the capital of the monarchy of Larissa in Northern Greece; on the Salambria (ancient Peneus), in the fertile plain of Thessaly; has manufactures of silk and cotton goods and tobacco; and is the seat of a Greek archbishop. Larissa was the center of the Turkish operations in the war of Greek liberation ; it was ceded by Turkey to Greece in 1881. Pop. about 18,000, one-third Greeks and one-third Turks. LARK, the genus Alauda. Four species are the best known: the skylark, A. arvensis; the shorelark, A. alpestris; the crested lark, A. cristata; and the woodlark, A. arborea. The skylark, with some variations of coloring, leading some ornithologists to suppose that there may
