PLO 
PLI 
frequent, and are caught by trawl nets. 
Their flesh is extremely firm and rich, and 
is preferred to that of any other species but 
the turbot. They are taken in the great- 
est abundance near Srixhara, in Devon- 
shire. , 
P. tuberculatus, or P. maximus, the tur- 
bot, is broader and squarer than 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 species, 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, had- 
docks, and particularly of lampreys, which 
are exported from Mortlake, in this coun- 
try, for that purpose, to the number of 
nearly half a million per annum, and the 
value of seven or eight hundred pounds. 
In England, Scarborough is the principal 
station of the turbot fishery, which is con- 
ducted 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 ex- 
tremities by stones, as anchors, extend 
sometimes to the length of three miles, al- 
ways across the tide, and contain between 
two and three thousand hooks. At every 
turn of the tide they are drawn up. This 
fishery is attended with great danger, not- 
withstanding the admirable construction of 
the boats, or cobles, as storms come on with 
extreme celerity, and scarcely admitting 
the opportunity of escaping to the shore 
from a sea which exhibits suddenly the 
most mountainous and overwhelming bil- 
lows. This, and all the above species, have 
their eyes on the right side. 
PLINIA, in botany, a genus of the Ico- 
saudria Monogynia class and order. Natural 
order of Rosacese, Jussieu. Essential cha- 
racter: calyx five or four-parted; petals 
five or four; drupe superior, grooved. There 
are two species, ®iz. P. crocea, saffron fruited 
plinia, and P. pedunculata, red fruited pli- 
nia. 
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 
whole order. It seems to have been origi- 
nally intended to keep the bottom of the 
original wooden pillars from rotting. 
Plinth of a statue, &c. is a base, either 
flat, round, or square, that serves to sup- 
port it. 
Plinth of a wall, denotes two or three 
rows of bricks advancing out from a wall ; 
or, in general, any flat high moulding, that 
serves in a front wad to mark the 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, su- 
perior; 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 Canary Islands. 
PLOT, in dramatic poetry, is sometimes 
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. 
Plot, 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. 
PLOTTING, among surveyors, is the 
art of laying down on paper, &c. the seve- 
ral angles and lines of a tract of ground sur- 
veyed 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. Bqt, in 
working with the theodolite, semicircle, or 
circumferentor, the angles are taken in de- 
grees ; and the distances in chains and links, 
so that there remains an after-operation to 
reduce these members into lines, and so to 
form a draught, plan, or map ; this opera- 
tion is called plotting. Plotting then is 
performed 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 bke, 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 tlieir just proportion. See Sur- 
VEVING. 
PLOTTiNG-seaie, a mathematical instru- 
ment, usually of wood, sometimes of brass, 
or other matter ; and either a foot or half a 
foot long. On one side of the instrument 
are seven several scales, or lines, divided 
