  We examine local Lagrangian approximations for the gravitational evolution of
the density distribution function. In these approximations, the final density
at a Lagrangian point q at a time t is taken to be a function only of t and of
the initial density at the same Lagrangian point. A general expression is given
for the evolved density distribution function for such approximations, and we
show that the vertex generating function for a local Lagrangian mapping applied
to an initially Gaussian density field bears a simple relation to the mapping
itself. Using this result, we design a local Lagrangian mapping which
reproduces nearly exactly the hierarchical amplitudes given by perturbation
theory for gravitational evolution. When extended to smoothed density fields
and applied to Gaussian initial conditions, this mapping produces a final
density distribution function in excellent agreement with full numerical
simulations of gravitational clustering. We also examine the application of
these local Lagrangian approximations to non-Gaussian initial conditions.
