seawax

The same as MALTHA (q. v.). sea-way, 8. IMG:content-1118.png:[blocks in formation] 1. The progre made by a ship through the 2. An open space in which a ve el lies with the sea rolling heavily. sea-weed, s. 1. Ord. Lang.: A popular name for any of the higher Algals. 2. Bot. ( pl.): Fucacese (q. v.). ( Lindley.) sea-whipcord, s. Bot.: The genus Chordaria. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, IMG:content-1119.png:[blocks in formation] 3599 the seal-skins of commerce are obtained. [NORTHERN FUR-SEAL.] Seals are largely hunted for the sake of their blubber, which yields a transparent, inodorous oil; and the skins of those species which have no close under-fur [SEAL-SKIN], when tanned, are employed in making boots, and, when dre ed with the hair on, serve to cover trunks, . The the most important are described in this Dictionary specios of True and Eared Sels are numerous, and under their popular names. seal-fishery, subst . The most important fishing ground for hair-seals is off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, about 250,000 seals having been captured there in one year (chiefly Phoca groen landica and Cystophora cristata ). There are others *1. Zool .: A popular name for a bivalve mollusk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, off Nova Zembla, in the akin to Mytilus. 2. Fig .: A sail. IMG:content-1120.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Botany : (1) Sea-wrack gra , Zoster a marina . (2) ( Pl .): The Zosteraceae (q. v.). ( Lindley .) Sea - wrack gra : [SEA-WRACK, 2 (1).] sea-förth-i-a, 8. [Named after Francis Lord Sea forth, a patron of botany.] Bot.: A genus of Arecem. Elegant palms, with pinnate fronds, polygamous or moncæcio us flowers, se ile on a branched spadix, with several in comp lote spathes; calyx and corolla trifid; males with many stamens and the rudiments of a pistil; style very short; stigmas three; berry small, oval, one seeded. Some have dwarf, reed-like stems, others rise thirty or forty feet high. Known species about twenty-five, from the Indian Archipelago and Australia. Type, Sea forth i a elegans , from the latter region. seal (1), *sele (1), subst. [A. S. seolh; cogn. with Icel. selr ; Dan. sæl , sæthund ; Sw. själ, själhund; O. H. Ger. selah .] Zool .: The English name for any individual of a group of Marine Carnivora, with resemblances in cranial characters to the True Bears on the one hand and the Otters on the other (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1869, p. 34). They fall naturally into two families: The Phocide, or True Seals, and the Otariide, or Eared Scals. The body in the former is elongated and somewhat pisciform, covered with a short, thick fur, or harsh hairs, and terminated behind by a short, conical tail. The limbs are developed into flippers, and adapted for swimming organs, while they are practically usele on land (a modification foreshadowed in the hind-limbs of the Sea Otter), so that, when they leave the water, the True Soals can only drag themselves laboriously along, chiefly by contractions of the abdominal muscles. They especially abound in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, pa ing the greater part of the year in the sea, not far from the shore, to which, however, they invariably resort in the breeding season and to bring forth their young. The Eared Seals, almost exclusively confined to the southern hemisphere, are more closely allied to Land Carnivora than the True Seals, as they po e small external ears, and are able to use the hind limbs for progre ion on shore. The male Eared Seal is much larger than the female, which looks ridiculously small beside her lord. It is from one of this group that most of boil, boy; pout, lowl; cat White and Caspian Seas, and the Arctic and North and South Pacific Oceans. The Prybiloff Islands are the seat of the most important fisheries for furseals, about 100,000 skins being obtained there annually; all the others, which are principally in the southern hemisphere, yielding only 85,000. The Bering Sea fisheries have been the subject of much diplomatic contention between this country and Great Britain. seal-skin, s. & a. A. As subst .: The skin of the seal, which, when dre ed with the hair on, is made into caps and other articles of dre , and, when tanned, into shoes, . The skin of the sea-bear or fur-seal, after the long coarse hairs, which cover a beautifully fine and silky fur, are removed, is dyed, and made into ladies' cloaks, muffs, . Only immature and female specimens of the fur-seal yield the seal-skin of commerce. B. As adj .: Made of the skin of the seal; as, a seal - skin jacket, .