PU 



species but the turbot They are taken 

 in the greatest abundance near Biixham, 

 in Devonshire. 



P. luberculatHS, or P. maximus, the 

 turbot, is DIM ader and square r ihan the 

 above species, has a skin apparently 

 wrinkled, and covered with numerous 

 obtuse, unequal, spinous tubercles. It 

 occasionally attains the weight of thirty 

 pounds, and though called by Linnaeus the 

 largest of the genus, is extremely inferior 

 in .size to the holibut. Its flesh, however, 

 is more valued than that of any other spe- 

 cies, and is considered as a high and 

 luxurious delicacy. It is found in the 

 same seas, and subsists on the same food, 

 as the species above-mentioned. On the 

 coast of Holland, these fishes are caught 

 in great abundance by baits of herrings, 

 haddocks, and pai t.cularly of lampreys, 

 which are exported from Mortlake, in 

 this country, for that purpose, to the 

 number of 'nearly half a million per an- 

 num, and the value of seven or eight hun- 

 dred pounds. In England, Scarborough 

 is the principal station of the turbol fishe- 

 ry, which is conducted in vessels of a ton 

 burden, in which three men carry each 

 = three distinct lines, hooked and baited, 

 which, altogether, when let down into the 

 water, fixed at both extremities with 

 stones, as anchors, extend sometimes to 

 the length of three miles, always across 

 the tide, and contain between two and 

 three thousand hooks. At every turn of 

 the tide they tire drawn up. This fishery 

 is attended with great clanger, notwith- 

 standing the admirable construction of 

 the boats, or cobles, as storms come on 

 with ext-eme celerity, and scarcely ad- 

 mitting the opportunity of escaping to the 

 shore, from a sea which exhibits suddenly 

 the most mountainous and overwhelming" 

 billows. This, and all the above species, 

 have their eyes on the right side. Seven 

 species are enumerated as inhabitants of 

 the United States. 



PLINIA, in botany, a genus of the Ico- 

 samlria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Rosaces, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character : calyx five or four-parted ; 

 petals five or four ; drupe superior, groov- 

 ed. There are two species, viz. P. cro- 

 cea, saffron fruited plinia, and P. pedun- 

 culata, red fruited piinia. 



PLINTH, in architecture, a flat square 

 member, in the form of a brick. It is used 

 as the foundation of columns, being that 

 flat square table, under the moulding of 

 the base and pedestal at the bottom of the 

 v/hole order, It seems to liuvc been ori- 



I'LCJ 



ginully intended to keep the bottom of 

 the original wooden pillars from rotting. 



PLINTH of a statue, &c. is a base, ei- 

 ther flat, round, or square, that serves tu 

 support it. 



PLINTH ofatoall,, denotes two or three 

 rows of bricks advancing out from a wall ; 

 or, in general, any flat high moulding, 

 that serves in a front wall to mark Uie 

 floors, to sustain the eaves of a wall, or 

 the larmier of a chimney. 



PLOCAMA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Essential character : calyx five-toothed, 

 superior; corolla bell-shaped, five-cleft; 

 berry three-celled ; cells one-seeded. 

 There is but one species, viz. P. pendula, 

 pendulous plocama, a native of the Cana- 

 ry Islands. 



PLOT, in dramatic poetry, is some- 

 times used for the fable of a tragedy or 

 comedy, but more particularly the knot 

 or intrigue, which makes the embarras of 

 any piece The unravelling puts an end 

 to the plot. 



PLO T, in surveying, the plan or draught 

 of any field, farm, or manor, surveyed 

 with an instrument, and laid down in the 

 proper figure, and dimensions. 



PLO'I TING, among surveyors, is the 

 artof.aying down on paper, &c the se- 

 veral angles and lines of a tract of ground 

 surveyed by a theodolite, &c. and a chain. 

 In surveying with the plain table, the 

 plotting is saved ; the several angles and 

 distances being laid down on the spot, as 

 fast as they are taken. See PLAIN- 

 TABLE. But, in working with the theo- 

 dolite, semicircle, or circumferenlor, the 

 angles aie taken in degrees ; and the dis- 

 tances in chains and links, so that there 

 remains an after-operation, to i educe these 

 members into lines, and so to form a 

 draught, plan, or map ; this operation is 

 called plotting. Plotting, then, is per- 

 formed by means of two instruments, the 

 protractor and plotting scale. By the 

 first, the several angles observed in the 

 field with a theodolite, or the like, and en- 

 tered down in degrees in the field book, 

 are protracted on paper in their just quan- 

 tity. By the latter, the several distances 

 measured with the chain, and entered 

 down in the like manner in the field book, 

 are laid down in their just proportion. 

 See SURVEYING. 



PLOT TIN G-scdlt:, a mathematical in- 

 strument, usually of wood, sometimes of 

 brass, or other matter ; and either a foot 

 or half a foot long. On one side of the in- 

 strument are seven several scales, or lines, 

 divided into equal parts. The first divi- 



