gions of the northern hemisphere and comprises both annual and perennial species. The lovely flowers are deep blue or purple, having many blossoms along a slender stem. The rocket larkspur of Switzerland and the branching larkspur are annuals, and the barlows and the great flowered are perennials. Many new species have been developed by cultivation. The stavesacre yields an alkaloid extract called delphinine, which is very poisonous even in small doses. There are over 25 species in the United States. Dwarf larkspur, known as stagger-weed because of its effect on cattle, grows in open woods, and bears long loose clusters of vivid blue or white flowers. Growing in the same range is the tall larkspur, which sometimes reaches a height of five feet, its flowers of intense blue being on long terminal racemes. The Carolina larkspur, from one to three feet in height, has blossoms of blue, pink and white.
La Rochefoucauld (la rō̇sh′fo͝o′kō′), François, Duc de, was born at Paris, Sept. 15, 1613, of an old family. His father was made a duke by Louis XIII in 1625. He entered the army when a boy, and at 17 was present at the siege of Casal. He supported Queen Anne against Richelieu, and consequently was driven into exile from 1639 to 1642. He returned to the country, and wrote his Memoirs. On Mazarin's death in 1661 he returned to court, and met De Sablé. His Moral Maxims appeared in 1665. His last years were brightened by his friendship with Mme. de La Fayette, which lasted until he died at Paris, March 17, 1680.
Lar′va (plural, larvæ), the young of nearly all insects, the larval stage being that which follows the hatching of the egg. The larvæ of beetles are grubs; of flies, maggots; of butterflies and moths, caterpillars. The term worm is misleading; worms are not insects, and do not, like larvæ, come from the egg. Some larvæ are almost like the full-grown insect, as grasshoppers, wanting only wings; others appear very unlike the adult, as caterpillar and moth or butterfly. Larvæ live only to eat, numerous insects in the larval state working untold harm on vegetation. As the creature grows too large for its skin, this is dispensed with; molting, as the process is called, taking place from four to 20 times, according to the species. Cast-off skins are frequently to be found. See Metamorphosis. Consult Cragin: Our Insect Friends and Foes.
Lasalle (lȧ-săl′), in Lasalle County, Ill., is at the head of steam navigation on Illinois River. It also is the terminus of the Illinois Canal, and has fine railroad connections. Bituminous coal is mined, there are manufactories of glassware, castings, brick and metallic ware, but the town is most noted for its zinc works, rolling mill and large cement mills. Lasalle was first settled in 1837. Population 11,537.
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| ROBERT LA SALLE |
La Salle (lä′sȧl′) Robert Cavelier, Sieur de. More than two centuries ago the Mississippi Valley was the background for a group of picturesque heroes. Missionary and explorer they trod this wilderness, remote from the seaboard; raised the cross; unfurled the lilies of France; won the fealty of the red man as no man of Saxon blood ever won it; built their forts, did their deeds of daring with the gallantry and grace of romance; and vanished, to give place to the American pioneer. But, though they are gone, their names and the names of their kings and saints are preserved in city street and sylvan stream, in county and town, and the Father of Waters murmurs of them from St. Anthony's Falls to the Gulf of Mexico.
Of all these figures the greatest was the one born Robert Cavelier, son of a rich, middle-class burgher of Rouen, Normandy, 1643. His was no mere adventure directed by chance, but a dream of vast empire. The title of Sieur de la Salle, by which he is best known, would seem to indicate noble blood and possessions, but it was acquired, probably, in Canada, whither he emigrated and held by grant a seigniory on a big island in Lachine Rapids above Montreal. It was also, possibly, a tribute to a man who was essentially an aristocrat in intellect and bearing. On his island kingdom in the St. Lawrence he long wondered whence came that wild flood of waters flowing exhaustlessly out of the west. He made one expedition to the Ohio and thought it must flow into the Pacific and thus furnish the long-sought route to China. Joliet returning made it clear that the Ohio could be only a tributary of the continental river that flowed southward into the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle built a vessel at the head of Lake Erie and sailed to Green Bay, Wisconsin. He made his way over land to Illinois, built two forts west of Chicago, and sent an exploring party up the Mississippi under Father Hennepin. Support and supplies were withheld by jealous, petty officials in Canada. So La Salle, leaving his lieutenant, Henri di Tonti, at Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock, went to France and got the ear of the king.
He had conceived the idea of exploring, fortifying and colonizing the St. Lawrence and Mississippi basins and winning a fabulously rich empire for France with the help of friendly Algonquin tribes. He had gathered 20,000 Indians, numbering 4,000 war-
