Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/728

Rh 686 U W R E and Temple, making a succinct, elaborate, and careful com parison between ancients and moderns in oratory, poetry, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, anatomy, botany, and other arts and sciences. His Reflections, the first edition of which appeared in 1694, show that his prodigious memory was not confined to languages, and that he possessed also strong judgment and argumentative power. The treatise may still be read with interest, as a survey of the state of various sciences at the close of the 17th century. Wotton, who was made D.D. in 1707, wrote also on subjects so diverse as fossils and Welsh laws, besides producing various historical works. He was en gaged on his translation of the Welsh laws at the time of his death, which took place in 1726. WOUWERMAX, PHILIP (1619-1668), a Dutch painter of battle and hunting scenes, was born at Haarlem in May 1619. He received the elements of his art instruction from his father, Paul Joosten Wouwer- man, an historical painter of moderate ability, and he then studied under Jan Wynants, and for a short time under Evert Decker. Returning to Haarlem, he became a member of its guild of painters in 1640. In that city he seems to have led the rest of his singularly produc tive life, and there he died in May 1668. About seven or eight hundred pictures are enumerated in Smith s Catalogue Raisonne as the work of Philip Wouwerman, but probably many of these are the productions of his brothers Peter and Jan, and of his many other imitators. His authentic works are distinguished by great spirit and animation, and are infinitely varied and full of incident, though dealing recurrently with cavalry battle-pieces, military encampments, scenes of cavalcades, and hunting or hawking parties. He is equally excellent in his vivacious treatment of figures, in his skilful animal painting, and in his admirable and appropriate intro duction of landscape backgrounds. Three different styles have been observed as characteristic of the various periods of his art. His earlier works are marked by the pre valence of a foxy-brown colouring, and by a tendency to an angular form in the draughtsmanship ; the productions of his middle period have greater purity and brilliancy ; and his latest and greatest pictures possess more of force and breadth, and are full of a delicate silvery-grey tone. WRASSE. This name is applied to the fishes of the family Labridae generally, and more especially to certain members of the family to be mentioned hereafter. They are without exception inhabitants of the sea, very abundant in the tropical zone, less so in the temperate, and dis appearing altogether on the confines of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Their body is generally compressed, like that of a carp, covered with smooth (cycloid) scales ; they possess one dorsal fin only, the anterior portion of which consists of numerous spines. Many wrasses are readily recognized by their thick lips, the inside of which is some times curiously folded, a pecu liarity which has given to them the German name of &quot; lip-fishes.&quot; The dentition of their jaws con sists of strong conical teeth, of which some in front, and often one at the hinder end of the upper jaw, are larger than the others. But the principal organs with which they crush shell-fish, crustaceans, and other hard substances are the solid and strongly -toothed pharyngeal bones, of which the lower are coalesced into a single flat triangular plate. The majority of wrasses are beautifully coloured, exhibiting extra ordinarily varied patterns of permanent pigmentary colours, as well as evanescent reflexions of the scales. All of Lips of Lobrus festivus. them are surface fishes, living close to the shore or coral- banks. Rocky parts of the coast overgrown with sea weed are their favourite haunts in the temperate, and coral-reefs in the tropical seas. Some 450 species of wrasses (including Parrot-Wrasses) are known, chiefly from the tropics ; some grow to a large size and are esteemed as food, whilst others, like the British species, are small and but rarely eaten. Of the British wrasses the Ballan Wrasse (Lalrus maculatus) and the Striped or Red Wrasse or Cook (Labnis mixtus) are the most common. Both belong to the genus Labrus, in which the teeth stand in a single series, and which has a smooth edge of the praeoperculum and only three spines in the anal fin. The ballan wrasse is the larger, attaining to a length of 18 inches, and, it is said, to a weight of 8 Hb ; its colours are singularly variegated, green or brownish, with red and blue lines and spots ; the dorsal spines are twenty in number. The cook wrasse offers an instance of well-marked secondary sexual difference, the male being ornamented with blue streaks or a blackish band along the side of the body, whilst the female has two or three large black spots across the back of the tail. This species possesses only from sixteen to eighteen spines in the dorsal fin. The Goldsinny or Corkwing (Crenilabrus melops} is much more frequent on the southern coasts of England and Ireland than farther north, and rarely exceeds a length of 10 inches. As in other wrasses, its colours are beautiful, but variable ; but it may be readily distinguished from the two preceding species by the toothed edge of the pi eeoperculum. The three other British wrasses are much scarcer and more local, viz., Jago s Goldsinny (Ctenolabrus rupestris), with a large black spot on the anterior dorsal spines, and another on the base of the upper caudal rays ; Acantholctbrus palloni, which is so rarely captured that it lacks a vernacular name, but may be easily recognized by its five anal spines and by the teeth in the jaws forming a band ; and the Rock-Cook (Centrolabrus exoletus), which also has five anal spines, but has the jaws armed with a single series of teeth. On the Atlantic coasts of the Northern States of North America the wrasses are represented by the genus Tautoga, which is distinct from the European forms. The only species of this genus, known by the names of Tautog or Blackfish, is a fish of considerable economic value, being much esteemed as food. It is caught in great numbers, and generally sold of a weight of about 2 Ib. WRECK (in Low Latin ivreccum or warectum maris) is a ship or goods cast on land by the sea in tidal waters. While still at sea such ship or goods do not constitute wreck but derelict, which includes flotsam, jetsam, and lagan (see FLOTSAM). In Roman law wreck was restored to the owner if he claimed it before a judicial tribunal within a year and a day, ilisfiscus waiving its claim after a constitution attributed to either Marcus Aurelius or Constantino. Theft from a wreck was regarded as aggra vated by the helpless position of the owner, and the thief was liable for fourfold the loss if an action was brought against him within a year, after that time for the loss simply. Plunderers of wreck and exhibitors of false lights were also punished criminally. Most of the Roman law on the subject is contained in Digest xlvii. 9, Code xi. 5. The Leonine Constitutions, c. 64, made a concealer of wreck liable to the fourfold penalty. In France it was provided by the laws of Olcron (see SEA LAWS) that succour was to be afforded to shipwrecked persons, and their property returned to them. Wreck afterwards became a right of the crown (a right limited to one-third of the value by an ordinance of Francis I.), but was often granted to feudal seigneurs under the name of droit de