LOACH  . The

fish known as loathes (Cobitinae) form a very distinct subfamily of the Cyprinidae, and are even regarded by some authors as constituting a family . Characters: Barbels, three to six pairs; pharyngeal teeth in one row, in moderate number; anterior part of the air-bladder divided into a right and left chamber, separated by a constriction, and enclosed in a bony capsule, the posterior part free or absent . They are more or less elongate in form, often eel-shaped, and naked or covered with minute scales . Most of the species are small, the largest known measuring 12 (the European Misgurnus fossilis), 13 (the Chinese Botia variegata), or 14 in . (the Central Asian Nemachilus siluroides) . They mostly live in small streams and ponds, and many are mountain forms . They are almost entirely confined to Europe and Asia, but one species (Nemachilus abyssinicus) has recently been discovered in Abyssinia . About 120 species are known, mostly from Central and South-Eastern Asia . Only two species occur in Great Britain: the common Nemachilus barbatulus and the rarer and more local Cobitis taenia . The latter extends across Europe and Asia to Japan . Many of these fishes delight in the mud at the bottom of ponds, in which they move like eels .

In some cases the branchial respiration appears to be insufficient, and the intestinal

tract acts as an accessory breathing organ . The air-bladder may be so reduced as to lose its hydro-static function and become subservient to a sensory organ, its outer exposed surface being connected with the skin by a meatus between the bands of muscle, and conveying the thermobarometrical impressions to the auditory nerves . Loaches are known in some parts of Germany as " Wetterfisch." LOAD; LODE . The O.E. lad, from which both these words are derived, meant "way," " journey," "conveyance," and is cognate with Ger . Leite . The Teutonic root is also seen in the O . Tent. laidjan, Ger. leiten, from which comes " to lead." The meanings of the word have been influenced by a sup-posed connexion with " lade," O.E. hladan, a word common to many old branches of Teutonic languages in the sense of " to place," but used in English principally of the placing of cargo in a ship, hence " bill of lading," and of emptying liquor or fluid out of one vessel into another; it is from the word in this sense that is derived " ladle," a large spoon or cup-like pan with a long handle . The two words, though etymologically one, have been differentiated in meaning, the influence of the connexion with " lade " being more marked in " load"than in " lode," a vein of metal ore, in which the original meaning of " way " is clearly marked . A " load " was originally a " carriage," and its Latin equivalent in the Promptorium Parvul arum is vectura . From that it passed to that which is laid on an animal or vehicle, and so, as an amount usually carried, the word was used of a specific quantity of anything, a unit of weight, varying with the locality and the commodity . A " load " of wheat=4o bushels, of hay=36 trusses . Other meanings of " load " are: in electricity, the power which an engine or dynamo has to furnish; and in engineering, the weight to be supported by a structure, the "permanent load " being the weight of the structure itself, the " external load " that of anything which may be placed upon it .