Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/528

 508 WATER SHIELD WATERTOWN color above, and golden yellow below; ba&il half of tail black, the rest white. The total length is about 2 ft., of which the tail is half. WATER SHIELD, an aquatic plant of the genus brasenia (an unexplained name), which for- merly with cdbomba made tip the family cabom- bacece, but is now classed with the water lilies in nympJutacece. It differs from the members of that family (see WATER LILY) in having long, slender stems, which arise from prostrate rootstocks, fork above, and bear leaves and flowers ; the entire oval leaves, with the slen- der petioles attached at the centre, are 1| to 4 in. long, and floating; the upper surface is green, and the under surface, with all other parts of the plant, of a dull purple; all the submersed portions of the plant are covered with a thick coating of an exceedingly trans- parent jelly-like substance. The solitary flow- ers, on axillary peduncles, bloom at the surface, Water Shield (Brasenta peltata). but are soon submersed; they are about an inch across, with calyx and corolla each of four parts, 12 to 18 stamens, and 4 to 18 pistils, which are distinct, a few of them ripening into one- or two-seeded pods. The plant varies much in the size of its leaves and length of its stems, which, according to the depth of the water, are from 1 to 15 ft. long. There is but one species, named, from the character of its leaves, B. peltata, found in ponds and slow streams from Canada to the gulf of Mexico, and along the northern border to Puget's sound; it occurs also in eastern India and Australia. The related cabomba Caroliniana, in the waters of North Carolina and southward, has small floating peltate leaves, with much divided sub- mersed ones, and whitish or yellowish flowers. WATER SPOUT, a diminutive whirlwind, last- ing from a few seconds to an hour, and reach- ing down from the under surface of a cloud to or nearly to the surface of the earth. In the centre of this whirlwind appears a slen- der column of water or dense vapor, consti- tuting the water spout proper. This column often descends but a short distance, like a pouch, but in its complete stage it reaches to within from 10 to 50 ft. of the earth or sea, and is accompanied by a cloud of whirling dust or spray raised from the ground or sea. The column is probably hollow, and the air whirl- ing around it is sometimes an ascending, but more frequently a descending current; the latter apparently is especially the case in the " cloud bursts " that occasionally desolate lim- ited regions. For the theory of water spouts see WHIRLWIND, and the memoir by Faye in the Annuairedu bureau des longitudes (Paris, 1874). WATERTON, Charles, an English naturalist, born at Walton hall, near Wakefield, York- shire, June 12, 1782, died there, May 27, 1865. He was educated at Ushaw and Stonyhurst, In 1804 he went to Demerara to superintend his uncle's estates, and travelled through the interior of the country to study natural his- tory. In 1814, on his father's death, he re- turned to England, and made of the estate of Walton park a safe retreat for birds and beasts, surrounding it with a stone wall 8 ft. high, and never allowing a shot to be fired on his grounds. In 1825 he published " Wanderings in South America, the Northwest of the United States, and the Antilles." lie was especially distinguished as a bird stuffer, and his collec- tions at Walton hall are almost unrivalled. He made several other voyages to South America, and contributed to " London's Magazine " many articles on natural history, subsequently pub- lished in a separate volume (2d ed., 1838, with an autobiography). See "Charles Waterton, his Home, Habits, &c." (London, 1866). WATERTOWN, a city and the county seat of Jefferson co., New York, on the Black river, 10 m. above its mouth in Lake Ontario, at the intersection of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg and the Utica and Black River railroads, 145 m. N. W. of Albany and 250 m. N. W. of New York city; pop. in 1870, 9,336 ; in 1875, 10,041. The city is handsome- ly laid out in wide streets, well shaded princi- pally with maple, and contains a large num- ber of handsome public buildings and private residences. The county poorhouse and insane asylum are just outside the city limits. Brook- side cemetery is about 8 m. S. of the city, and contains 70 acres. The grounds of the county agricultural society and the river park race course are within the limits. The river divides the city into two unequal portions, which are connected by three bridges, one a suspension bridge of iron. It is surrounded by a rich agri- cultural country, abounding in limestone and iron, with which it carries on a valuable trade. It has unbroken railroad connection with New York and the Pennsylvania coal regions. The Black river falls 112 ft. in its passage through the city, a distance of less than two miles,