Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/520

500 WATERBURY WATER-COLOR PAINTING Water Scorpion (Nepa ciuerea). Europe (notonecta Americana, Fabr., and glauca, Linn.) swim very rapidly by means of the flattened, oar-like hind legs, and with the back downward ; the air for respiration is car- ried in the space between the wings and back ; they are active and predaceous, feeding on aquatic insects and larvae, and may be seen in almost any piece of fresh water; the color is gray- ish brown, and the length about three fourths of an inch ; they are carnivorous at all ages. In the other family the head is small and triangular, and the legs not so well adapted for swimming, the ante- rior pair being modified into powerful prehensile organs. The genus nepa (Linn.), or water scorpion, includes some insects 2 or 8 in. long; the common species, N. apiculata (Harris), of America, and the 2f. cinerea (Linn.) of Eu- rope, are about two thirds of an inch long, and brownish gray ; respiration is effected through two long filaments extending from the caudal extremity ; they are voracious and carnivorous, and fly chiefly at night. For the hydrocanthari or water beetles, see BEETLE. WATERBCRY, a town and city of New Haven co., Connecticut, on the Naugatuck river and railroad, at the W. terminus of the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill railroad, 75 m. N. E. of New York and 88 m. by rail S. W. of Hart- ford ; pop. of the town in 1850, 5,187 ; in 1860, 10,004; in 1870, 13,106, and of the city, 10,- 826. The city is on the E. bank of the river, and is surrounded by hills. It has many fine residences, excellent water works, and a good fire department, and is lighted with gas. Near the centre is a public park finely laid out, and on the W. bank opposite lies the handsome Riverside cemetery, containing 40 acres. The 6ity hall is a fine structure. Adjoining it is the Bronson free library, endowed by Silas Bronson with $200,000 ; it contains more than 18,000 volumes. St. John's church (Episco- pal) and the first Congregational church are handsome buildings. Waterbury is celebrated for the extent and variety of its manufactures. The manufacture of gilt buttons was begun in 1802, and after the war of 1812 the rolling of brass and copper and the production of brass and copper wire were introduced; and Water- bury is now the centre of the brass industry of the country. There are six rolling mills, each having a capital of from $200,000 to $400,000 ; two clock companies, a large sus- pender and webbing factory, and one of the most extensive pin factories in the country. Altogether there are about 30 joint-stock com- panies, with an aggregate capital of $6,000,- 000. More than 4,000 operatives, chiefly males, are employed, and the monthly wages amount to $175,000. About 3,000 tons of raw copper are annually consumed in the production of rolled copper and brass, brass and copper wire, tubing, German silver, plate brass, hooks and eyes, &c. The factories are very fine buildings. The city contains two national banks and two savings institutions. The public schools, including a high school, are attended by 8,000 pupils. There are also three academies. A daily and two weekly newspapers are published. There are seven churches : Baptist, Congregational (2), Epis- copal, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Univer- salist. The town was settled in 1667, and called Mat tat uck till 1686. The city was in- corporated in 1853. WATER-COLOR PADiTDiG. In nearly all the methods of painting known to the ancients, water was employed as the vehicle, either alone or mixed with some glutinous substance serving to bind the colors together. Paint- ings in distemper, frescoes, and miniatures are all varieties of water-color paintings ; but the term is now applied almost exclusively to painting on paper with colors diluted with water. The best Italian, Dutch, and Flemish painters often executed their cartoons and fin- ished sketches with water colors; but these were mere studies, and pictures in water colors on paper, intended for exhibition as completed works of art, are much more modern. They were at first executed exclusively with solid opaque colors, and the use of transparent colors first became general toward the end of the last century. The name of "stained drawings" was at first given to paintings in this latter style ; and the drawing was in general mode out in light and shadow with India ink or some neutral tint, and washes of transparent colors were then applied to the different parts. The plan now generally pursued is to paint in every object at once in its proper colors, without the use of a preparatory monotinted ground, trust- ing to subsequent modifications, commonly made with transparent, though sometimes with opaque colors, to remove the first crude ef- fects. The superior facility of painting in this manner, as well as of rapidly sketching evan- escent atmospheric appearances, has greatly tended to popularize the art. The number of water-color painters is now very large, es- pecially in England, the United States, and France; and in Great Britain there are spe- cial societies of painters in water colors. The practical details of the art vary so much with different artists, that scarcely any general rules can be laid down. Some prefer a paper with a fine grain, and others with an exceedingly rough one. The paper most generally used is that known as imperial, which comprises a great variety of textures and thicknesses. Grad- uated tinted papers are also employed, having preparatory hoes for different hours of the day or for the production of other effects. If the surface of the paper is at all greasy, so that the