Lostwithiel

Lot belongs to the 17th military district (Toulouse), and to the academie of Toulouse, its court of appeal is at Agen, and it is in the province of the archbishop of Albi, bishopric of Cahors. It is served by the Orleans railway. Cahors, Figeac and Roca madour are the principal places. The fine feudal fortress at Castelnau has an audience hall of the 12th century, the Roman esque abbey-church at Souillac has a finely sculptured entrance. The plateau of Puy d'Issolu, near Vayrac, is believed by most authorities to be the site of the ancient Uxcellodunum, the scene of the last stand of the Gauls against Julius Caesar in 51 B.C. Lot has many dolmens.

LOT,

a river of southern France, about 30o m. long, rising in the Hercynian gneisses of the Cevennes on Mt. du Goulet, at a height of 4,918 feet. Its direction is westward through a deep gorge between the Causse of Mende and Aubrac mountains, and the tableland (causses) of Sauveterre, Severac and Comtal. It passes off the gneisses near Capdenac ; hence its sinuous course crosses the plateau of Quercy, of Jurassic limestones, to enter a wider fertile plain, covered with Tertiary deposits and allu vium. Its largest tributary, the Truyere (right), joins it at En traygues. Lower down it receives the Dourdou (left) and the Cele (right) above Cahors, below which is the town of Villeneuve sur-Lot. The Lot is canalized and navigable between the Garonne and Bouquies (160 miles).

a department of south-western France, formed in 1790 of Agenais and Bazadais, two districts of the old province of Guienne, and of Condomois, Lomagne, Brullois and pays d'Albret, formerly portions of Gascony. It is bounded W. by Gironde, N. by Dordogne, E. by Lot and Tarn-et Garonne, S. by Gers and S.W. by Landes. Area, 2,078 sq.m. Pop. (1931) 247,500. The department is that part of the Garonne basin above and below the point at which the Lot joins it. The north-east and the south are hilly, and in the west are the borders of the Landes (q.v.). The Garonne, the Lot and the Drot, a

right bank tributary of the Garonne, are navigable. The mean temperature of Agen is 56.6° F, or 5° above that of Paris; the annual rainfall, from 20 to 24 in., is nearly the least in France. Of cereals wheat is the chief, with oats and maize. Potatoes, vines and tobacco are important sources of wealth. The best wines are those of Clairac. Vegetables and fruit, especially plums, prunes d'ente and apricots, are grown. The chief trees are the pine and the oak; there is a good deal of forest and the cork-oak flourishes in the Landes. Horned cattle are the chief live stock.

Poultry and pigs are also reared profitably. There are deposits of iron in the department. The forges, blast furnaces and foundries of Fumel are important ; and agricultural implements and other machines are manufactured. The making of lime and cement, of tiles, bricks and pottery, of confectionery and dried plums (pruneaux d'Agen) and other delicacies are important. At Ton neins (pop. 4,691) there is a national tobacco manufactory. Cork cutting, of which the centre is Mezin, candle-making, tanning and paper-making are other industries. The arrondissements are three, named from the towns of Agen, Marmande and Villeneuve-sur Lot, and there are 35 cantons and 326 communes.

Agen, the capital, is the seat of a bishopric under Bordeaux and of the court of appeal. The department belongs to the region of the XVII. army corps (Toulouse), the academie of Bordeaux. Lot-et-Garonne is served by the lines of the Southern and the Orleans railways. The department possesses Roman remains at Mas d'Agenais and at Aiguillon. The churches of Layrac, Mon sempron, Mas d'Agenais, Moirax, Mezin and Vianne are of in terest, as also are the 13th century fortifications of Vianne, and the chateaux of Xaintrailles, Bonaguil, Gavaudun and of the industrial town of Casteljaloux.