Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/368

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SEA ELEPHANT 312 SEAL neys in search of food, and seizes lambs, hares, and other animals. The head is covered with long drooping feathers of ashy brown color, while the body is of a dark-brown hue, streaked in some places SEA EAGLE with lighter tints, and having the pri- mary feathers of the wing mostly black. The tail is rounded, and is of white color in the adult, but brown in the young bird. The bird feeds in Shetland and in the Hebrides. The American bald- headed eagle, Haliaetus leucocephalus, from its frequenting the seacoasts is also named the sea eagle. See Eagle. SEA ELEPHANT, a large seal, called also bottle-nosed seal and seal elephant. It is the largest of the seal family, being larger than an elephant. The average length of the male is 12 to 14 feet, but some of 20 and 25 feet are mentioned. SEA ELEPHANT The female is generally about 10 feet long. It gets its name from its size and from its proboscis, which stretches out a foot or more, somewhat like the trunk of an elephant. The males are slaty -blue or brown, the female olive-brown above and yellowish below. Their hair is coarse and useless, but their thick skin makes good harness leather. The blubber yields a fine clear oil as good as sperm oil, with- out bad smell or taste. In England it is used for softening wool and in making cloth. The sea elephant was once found in abundance at Heard's Island in the southern Indian ocean, and at the Falk- land and South Shetland Islands and other islands in the south Atlantic, and the coast of California. It is now rare. SEAGER, HENRY ROGERS, an American economist, born at Lansing, Mich., in 1870. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1890, and took post-graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, at Johns Hopkins, and in Germany and Austria. From 1897 to 1902 he was assistant professor of poli- tical economy at the University of Penn- sylvania, and in 1905 became professor of the same branch at Columbia Univer- sity. He wrote "Introduction to Eco- nomics" (1904); "Social Insurance" (1910) ; "Principles of Economics" (1917). From 1917 to 1919 he was secretary of the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board in Washington. SEA HARE, Aplysia, the name of a genus of gasteropodous mollusca. These animals are slug-like in appearance, and derive their popular name from the prominent character of the front pair of tentacles, which somewhat resemble the ears of a hare. The shell is either absent or is of very rudimentary character, and is concealed by the mantle. Four tenta- cles exist, and the eyes are situated at the base of the hinder tentacles. The sea hares are widely distributed throughout most seas, and generally inhabit muddy or sandy tracts. They emit a fluid of a rich purple hue. They are also known to discharge an acrid fluid of milky ap- pearance, which has an irritant effect on the human skin. A. hybrida is the com- mon British species. SEA KALE, Cram.be maritima, a per- ennial cruciferous herb, a species of cole- wort, called also sea cabbage. It is a native of the seacoasts of Europe, and is much cultivated in gardens as a table vegetable. SEAL, an impression made on paper, clay, wax, or other substance, by means of a die of metal, stone, or other hard material. The stamp which yields the impression is frequently itself called the seal. The use of seals may be traced to the remotest antiquity. The Bible con- tains frequent allusions to them, and their use has been common in all the Euro- pean states from the earliest historical periods. It is affixed to legal instruments so as to furnish evidence of their authen- ticity. SEAL, in zoology, the family Phocidse or seal tribe, are, of all four-limbed mam- miferous animals, those which display the most complete adaptation to residence in the water. The head is round, and th<s nose, which is broad, resembles that of