Lardner, Ring(gold Wilmer) (b. March 6, 1885, Niles, Mich., U.S.—d. Sept. 25, 1933, East Hampton, N.Y.) U.S. writer. He worked as a newspaper reporter, sportswriter, and columnist before he began pub¬ lishing fiction. He won popular success with comic stories about a base¬ ball player, some collected in You Know Me, Al (1916). Later collections, noted for their satire, narrative skill, and convincing vernacular language, include How to Write Short Stories (1924) and The Love Nest (1926). His son, the screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr., was one of the Hollywood Ten and later wrote such hit movies as MAS*// (1970).
Laredo \b-'ra-do\ City (pop., 2000: 176,576), southern Texas, U.S. Located on the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, Mex., it was estab¬ lished in 1755 by the Spanish and was named for Laredo, Spain. After the Texas revolt against Mexican rule in 1836, it became the seat of the Republic of the Rio Grande (1839-41). Occupied by the Texas Rangers in 1846, it was incorporated as a city in 1852. A rapidly growing city, its manufacturing includes electronic components and oil refining.
Lares \'lar-,ez\ In Roman religion, guardian deities. Originally gods of cultivated fields, Lares were later worshiped in association with the Penates, the gods of the household. The household Lar, considered the cen¬ tre of the family cult, was often represented as a youthful figure holding a drinking horn and cup. Two Lares might be portrayed standing on either side of Vesta or some other deity. A prayer was said to the Lar or Lares every morning, and offerings were made at family festivals. Public Lares presided over local districts marked by a crossroads; state Lares (praes- tites ), guardians of Rome, were worshiped in a temple on the Via Sacra.
large intestine End section of the intestine. It is about 5 ft (1.5 m) long, is wider than the small intestine, and has a smooth inner wall. In the first half, enzymes from the small intestine complete digestion, and bac¬ teria produce many B vitamins and vitamin K. Over 24-30 hours, churn¬ ing movements break down tough cellulose fibres and expose chyme to the colon’s walls, which absorb water and electrolytes; absorption is its main function, along with storing fecal matter for expulsion. The more vigor¬ ous “mass movement” (gastrocolic reflex) occurs only two or three times a day to propel waste material toward the anal canal. Common afflictions include ulcerative colitis, diverticulosis (see diverticulum), polyps, and tumours.
Largo Caballero \Tar-go-,ka-bal-'yar-o\, Francisco (b. Oct. 15, 1869, Madrid, Spain—d. March 23, 1946, Paris, France) Spanish social¬ ist leader and prime minister (1936-37). He joined the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party in 1894 and rose to become head of the party’s trade- union federation in 1925. He cooperated with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, then served in the Second Republic as labour minister
Sami (Lapps) outside their reindeer-skin tent in Finnish Lapland
© THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY; PHOTOGRAPH, JEAN AND FRANC SHOR
Eurasian lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
INGMAR HOLMASEN
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Laristan ► Las Casas I 1077
(1931-33). After the Popular Front’s election victory in 1936, he became prime minister and tried to unify the leftist parties; however, an extreme- left uprising in Barcelona in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War caused a cabinet crisis and he was forced to resign. He went into exile in France and was interned by the Germans in World War II (1942-45).
Laristan \,lar-9-'stan\ Region, southern Iran. Located on the Persian Gulf, it is a former province; its chief town is Lar. The region was ruled by the Muzaffarid dynasty of Kerman until it was conquered by Timur. After his death in 1405, it was ruled by local chiefs under the Safavid dynasty. The last such chief was put to death by 'Abbas I (the Great), who ruled from 1587 to 1629.
lark Any of about 75 species of songbirds (family Alaudidae) found throughout the continental Old World. Only the horned, or shore, lark ( Eremophila alpestris ) is native to the New World. The bill may be small and narrowly conical or long and downward-curving, and the hind claw is long and sometimes straight.
The plumage is plain or streaked and closely matches the soil in colour. Its body is 5-9 in. (13-23 cm) long.
Flocks of larks forage for insects and seeds on the ground. All species have a high, thin, melodious voice. See also SKYLARK.
Larkin, Philip (Arthur) (b. Aug. 9, 1922, Coventry, Warwickshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 2, 1985, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire) English poet. Educated at Oxford, Larkin became a librarian at the University of Hull, Yorkshire, in 1955; he would remain a librarian the rest of his life. He wrote two novels before becoming well known with his third volume of verse. The Less Deceived (1955), which expressed the antiromantic sen¬ sibility prevalent in English verse of his time. Later poetry volumes are The Whitsun Weddings (1964), High Windows (1974), and Aubade (1980). All What Jazz (1970) contains essays he wrote as a jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph (1961-71).
larkspur or delphinium Any of about 300 species of herbaceous plants that make up the genus Del¬ phinium in the buttercup family, many of which are grown for their showy flower stalks. Annual larkspurs (sometimes separated as the genus Consolida) include the common rocket larkspur ( D . ajacis, or C. ambigua) and its varieties, up to 2 ft (60 cm) tall, with bright blue, pink, or white flowers on branching stalks.
Perennial larkspurs, often with blue flowers, include species that grow to 4.5 ft (1.4 m).
Larne \Tarn\ Town (pop., 1991:
17,575), capital of Larne district (pop., 2001: 30,832), Northern Ire¬ land. It is located on the Irish Sea north of Belfast. Edward Bruce landed nearby on his journey to accept the Irish throne in 1315. It developed as a holiday resort after 1900. The Antrim Coast Road, one of the greatest tourist attractions in Northern Ireland, begins at Lame. The district’s economy is largely based on tourism and agriculture.
Larousse \l9-'riis\, Pierre (Athanase) (b. Oct. 23, 1817, Toucy, France—d. Jan. 3, 1875, Paris) French publisher, lexicographer, and ency¬ clopaedist. Son of a blacksmith, he received a scholarship to study in Ver¬ sailles. He founded his publishing house, Librairie Larousse, in Paris in 1852. It published textbooks, grammar books, and dictionaries, but his major work, reflecting his desire “to teach everyone about everything,” was the combined dictionary and encyclopaedia Grand dictionnaire uni- versel du XIXe siecle, 17 vol. (1866-76). Librairie Larousse continues to publish a multivolume encyclopaedia as well as dictionaries and smaller encyclopaedias.
Larsa biblical Ellasar Ancient capital of Babylonia, located on the Eu¬ phrates River in present-day southern Iraq. It was founded in prehistoric times and flourished in a period of Sumerian decline (c. 2000-c. 1760 bc), when long-distance trade connected the Euphrates with the Indus River valley. Hammurabi of Babylon gained control of the area in 1763 bc.
Larsen Ice Shelf Ice shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea, adjoining the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is named for Capt. Carl A. Larsen, who explored the ice front by boat in 1893. The shelf originally covered an area of 33,000 sq mi (86,000 sq km), excluding the numer¬ ous small islands within it, but, as air temperatures over the Antarctic Peninsula warmed slightly in the second half of the 20th century, the shelf shrank dramatically. By the early 21st century, it covered only 40 percent of its former area.
Lartigue \lar-'teg\, Jacques-Henri (-Charles-Auguste) (b. June 13, 1894, Courbevoie, Fr.—d. Sept. 12, 1986, Nice) French painter and photographer. Born into a prosperous family, he was given a Brownie camera at age seven. From the beginning, his photographs were invari¬ ably informal shots of everyday subjects. In the 1910s and ’20s Lartigue enthusiastically photographed subjects such as automobile races, fashion¬ able ladies at the seashore and the park, and kite flying. These photographs reveal his free spirit and love of life, rather than a concern for photo¬ graphic technique and craft, and often capture a sense of movement. When his work was discovered in the 1960s, it was acclaimed for its departure from formal, posed portraits and for its ingenuous charm and beguiling spontaneity.