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 566 PIZARRO PLAGIOSTOMES equip a force of 250 men for the conquest of Peru. Accompanied by four of his brothers, Pizarro recrossed the Atlantic in January, 1530, and a year later sailed from Panama with three vessels, 180 men, and 27 horses, on his final and successful expedition against the empire of the incas. (See PERU.) A quarrel between Pizarro and Almagro, the latter complaining that Pizar- ro had appropriated to himself an undue share of the honors and emoluments, at length became a civil war, in which Almagro was captured and put to death (1538). The contest was con- tinued by Diego Almagro, his son by an Indian woman. This faction attacked Pizarro in his palace and killed him in a desperate affray, in which three of their number fell beneath his sword. He left two children by a daughter of the inca Atahuallpa. His descendants, bearing the title of marquis of the conquest, are still to be found at Trujillo in Spain. Pizarro was tall, well formed, with a pleasing countenance, a soldier-like bearing, and a commanding pres- ence. Though grasping in the acquisition of money, he was liberal in its use, and not only gave largely to his followers, but expended most of the vast treasures of which he plun- dered the incas in public buildings and im- provements. Lima and several other cities were founded by him. He never learned to read or write, but could sign his name. He was cruel, cunning, and perfidious, and his chief merits were courage and fortitude. II. Gon- zalo, youngest brother of the preceding by the same father but another mother, and also illegitimate, born in Trujillo about 1506, exe- cuted at Ouzco in 1548. He was an excellent marksman, horseman, draughtsman, fencer, and lancer, but was wholly uneducated except in the art of war. He was appointed governor of Quito in 1540, and led an expedition across the Andes, which resulted in the discovery of the head waters of the Amazon and the descent of that stream to the ocean by Orellana, one of his officers. After the assassination of his brother he raised an army and rebelled against the viceroy, Blasco Nunez. He was supported by many of the colonists and royalist soldiers, drove the viceroy from Lima, and on Jan. 18, 1546, defeated him in a battle near Quito in which Nunez was slain. This victory gave Pizarro for a while the undisputed mastery of Peru. But in 1547.he was attacked by the royal forces under Pedro de la Gasca, who was sent from Spain to suppress the rebellion. After various encounters Pizarro was deserted by some of his followers, was defeated, taken prisoner, and beheaded. III. Hernando, elder brother of the two preceding, born about 1465, died about 1565. He. was the legitimate son of Col. Pizarro by a lady of good family, was well educated, and served in the wars in Italy under Gonsalvo de Cordova. He took an im- portant part in the conquest of Peru, and in 1533 set out for Spain with the royal share of the booty, arriving in January, 1534. The king made him a knight of Santiago and empowered him to equip an armament at Seville. Her- nando recrossed the ocean with a large and well appointed fleet, and after his arrival in Peru was appointed governor of Cuzco, which he defended for five months against a host of Indian warriors. Subsequently, in the hos- tilities with Almagro, he was taken prisoner, but was finally set at liberty. A few months later Almagro fell into the hands of Hernando and was put to death by his order. In 1539 Hernando went to Spain, carrying with him a great quantity of gold. He was coldly re- ceived, and, though no formal sentence was pronounced against him, was imprisoned for 20 years in the fortress of Medina del Campo, from which he was dismissed in 1560 when nearly 100 years old. PLACENTA. See EMBRYOLOGY. PLACENTIA. See PIACENZA. PLACER, a N". E. county of California., bor- dering on Nevada, bounded N. by Bear river, S. by the American river and its Middle fork, and intersected by the N". fork of the Amer- ican and other streams ; area, 1,386 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 11,357, of whom 2,410 were Chinese. The E. part is mountainous, being crossed by the Sierra Nevada, and is well timbered. Toward the Sacramento valley on the west the surface becomes more level, and in this portion there is much arable land ; but the chief wealth is in the gold mines, of which there were 43 in 1870, viz. : 21 hydraulic, 18 placer, and 4 quartz. The county is traversed by the Central Pacific railroad and its Oregon division. The chief productions in 1870 were 102,402 bushels of wheat, 57,261 of barley, 61,209 gallons of wine, 169,033 Ibs. of wool, 72,125 of butter, and 6,665 tons of hay. There were 1,767 horses, 1,563 milch cows, 2,575 other cattle, 26,596 sheep, and 7,421 swine ; 1 manufactory of curled hair, 4 breweries, 14 saw mills, 1 pork-packing establishment, and 3 quartz mills. Capital, Auburn. PLACpIDS (Gr. TrAa/cetv, to cover with plates), a division of cartilaginous fishes in the old system of Agassiz, including the sharks and rays, characterized by a skin covered irregu- larly with enamelled plates, or studded with rough osseous points sometimes furnished with little hooks, and resembling the peculiar sur- face of shagreen. They are among the high- est of fishes, approaching reptiles, and many of them are viviparous. (See COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, and PLAOIOSTOMES.) PLAGIOSTOMES (Gr. TrAdywf, transverse, and <rrd//a, mouth), a suborder of cartilaginous fishes, including the sharks and rays, in some respects the most highly organized of their class. They correspond to the selachians of Cuvier, and to the placoids of Agassiz. They are few in number in the present creation, but with the ganoids (sturgeons, &c.) were by far the most abundant in past geological epochs, these two suborders being the only members of the class found below the chalk. The cen- tre of their vertebral column is usually more or