Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/760

 734 SEAL the ears distinct. They are found on the E. shores of Kamtchatka, about the Kurile isl- ands, and the N. W. coast of America, on rug- ged shores and desert rocks in the ocean ; their food consists of fish, the smaller seals, sea ot- ters, and marine birds and animals. The south- ern sea lion (0. jubata, De Blainv.) is of about the same size and general appearance as the last, with similar habits, is heavy and clumsy in its gait, and fears man ; it is found in the south seas, sometimes coming to the Patagonian coasts ; it is rarely hunted except by savages, though the oil is excellent. The name of sea bear has been applied to many smaller seals of both hemispheres, with a less ferocious aspect but fiercer disposition than the sea lions. The northern ursine seal or sea bear (callorhinut ursinm, Gray)ia about the size of a large bear, between 7 and 8 ft. in length ; the forehead is much arched, the lips tumid, and the ears nearly 2 in. high ; close to the skin is a soft reddish Sea Bear (Callorhlnus ursinus). wool, over which is a dark coarse hair ; the females and young are ashy. It is very fat in spring before the young are born ; it is poly- gamous, the males tender to the young but tyrannical to the females ; if wounded, it will attack a boat, and is very tenacious of life; it is the terror of the smaller seals and sea otters, and is itself afraid of the sea lion. This species furnishes the greater portion of the fur seal skins of commerce. It is found chiefly on the Pribyloff islands in Behring sea, a group belonging to Alaska, collecting espe- cially on St. Paul's and St. George's islands. The " rookeries " contain several millions of seals; the adult males begin to arrive about the first of May (the great body about the first of June) and the females about the middle of June, giving birth to their young soon after landing; the "bachelor" seals, as males un- der six years old are called, do not collect on the "rookeries," but have separate "hauling grounds;" nearly all leave the islands about the end of October or middle of November. The males on the "rookeries" do not go into the water from the time of "hauling up" in May till after the first of August, being sus- tained in the mean time by the absorption of their own fat. After leaving the islands in autumn, the seals spread out over the North Pacific, following schools of fish, or frequent- ing shoals and banks where cod are abundant ; at this time they are shy and difficult to ap- proach, unless asleep, in which condition they are captured by the natives all along the N. W. coast from the Columbia river to Behring sea ; in spring they return to the breeding grounds on the islands. The capture of the seals for their fur begins with their first landing on the islands, and may continue till they begin shed- ding their fur in August or September ; they are killed by the natives with clubs ; only the " bachelor " seals are allowed to be captured. The blubber of the fur seal is of a faint yel- lowish white, and lies entirely between the skin and flesh; it possesses an odor exceed- ingly offensive, and difficult to wash from the hands. The flesh, when carefully cleaned of fat, can be eaten ; it resembles poor, tough, overdone beef. (See FUR, vol. vii., pp. 536 and 538.) The southern sea bear (arctoceplialus Falklandicus, Gray) is smaller than the last, to which it is similar in habits, but larger than the common seal, the males being about 7 ft. long, and the females considerably smaller; the hair is of different colors, black, brownish, gray, and variously spotted with grayish and yellowish, and the under fur is short and fine. It was formerly very abundant about the isl- ands of the southern ocean, especially the Falkland, but is now almost extirpated. Some thousands of skins have recently been obtained, however, at the South Shetland islands by ves- sels from New London, and there is a small rookery on the Lobos islands protected by the Argentine government. It was from this spe- cies that the market was formerly supplied. A few fossil remains of species nearly allied to the common and monk seals have been found in the upper tertiary formations of Eu- rope and North America, and recently in the Yorktown (miocene) strata of the Atlantic coast, with those of the whale, dolphin, and walrus. See " The Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland," by Michael Carroll (Mon- treal, 1878), and " The Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of North America," by Charles M. Scammon (4to, New York, 1874). SEAL (Lat. sigillum), a piece of metal, stone, or other hard substance on which is engraved some image or device, and sometimes a legend or inscription. It is used for making impres- sions on wax or like material affixed to legal instruments, as evidence of their authenticity. The word seal sometimes means only the imple- ment employed, but both in legal and in com- mon language it is applied also to the thing im- pressed. The Bible contains frequent allusions