SEA CUCUMBER 



5279 



SEAL 



It is by means of its tentacles that the sea 

 anemone obtains its food, which consists of a 

 variety of small sea animals. Certain tentacles 

 are equipped with so-called lasso cells, which 

 throw out barbed threads that paralyze the 

 creatures they strike. The prey is then dragged 

 into the mouth cavity by other tentacles and 

 digested in a digestive canal. Some of the 

 tentacles bear specks that serve as organs of 

 sight. Sea anemones reproduce by eggs or by 

 budding; in the latter case the new organism 

 grows out from the base of the body and is 

 finally detached, forming a new individual. 



Consult Arnold's The Sea Beach at Ebb Tide; 

 Mayer's Sea-Shore Life. 



SEA CUCUMBER, ku'kumber, the popular 

 name of a group of sea animals belonging to 

 the same branch as the starfishes, sea urchins 

 and sea lilies (see ECHINODERMS). As the name 

 indicates, they have long, rounded bodies, 

 shaped somewhat like the familiar garden vege- 

 table. At one end of the body there is a large 

 mouth opening, encircled by a series of branch- 

 ing tentacles. These the animal expands and 



SEA CUCUMBER 



contracts as its seizes its food. It has five 

 double rows of tube feet, which can be ex- 

 tended and used as organs of locomotion. 

 There are several different species, found in all 

 parts of the ocean. Those inhabiting tropical 

 waters sometimes grow to be two or three feet 

 long, but the sea cucumbers of temperate re- 

 gions are only a few inches in length. Large 

 numbers of an edible species are caught off the 

 Great Barrier Reef of Australia and sent to 

 Chinese markets under the name of trepang 

 (which see). 



SEA HORSE. See HIPPOCAMPUS. 



SEAL, a word derived from the Latin sigil- 

 lum, meaning a mark or sign. It is usually a 

 device impressed on paper, metal or wax, to be 

 attached to a document, together with a signa- 

 ture. The practice of using a seal on docu- 

 ments of importance has been followed without 

 interruption since the fifth century before 

 Christ, in the golden age of Greece. In Rome 

 the Popes very early began to attach leaden 

 seals to their official communications; these 

 seals, called bullae, gave rise to the bull of the 

 Popes. 



In olden times it was customary to wear a 

 ring, called a signet ring, flattened at the top, 

 on which was engraved some special device. 

 This ring, an ornamental finger ring, usually, 

 was used to seal letters and documents, the 

 design being pressed on the surface of the 

 parchment or paper. The seal ring of the 

 present day is the development of the older 

 signet ring. The legal expression of "signed, 

 sealed and delivered" is a relic of the times 

 when both signature and seal were necessary to 

 prove authenticity of letters. 



Seals of Government. Every country, prov- 

 ince and state has an official seal, without which 

 no legislative act can go into effect. Such a 

 seal must be affixed by the Secretary of State, 

 in whose custody the official seal reposes. The 

 legislative branch of a government congress, 

 state legislature or parliament decides upon 

 the character of the seal, which when once 

 adopted cannot be changed except by the same 

 law-making authority. Each of the forty-eight 

 seals of the states of the American Union and 

 the provincial seals of the Dominion of Canada 

 are pictured in these volumes, accompanying 

 the articles describing those political divisions. 



Great Seal of the United States. On the day 

 the thirteen American colonies proclaimed their 

 independence (July 4, 1776) Benjamin Franklin, 

 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were ap- 

 pointed a committee "to prepare a device for 

 a Great Seal of the United States." Their re- 

 port followed in sixty days, but was not acted 

 upon. In 1782 a seal was proposed which was 

 acceptable to Congress and was adopted. It 

 was not changed until 1885, when the Congress 

 ordered a new design. Both sides of the present 

 seal are shown in article UNITED STATES. The 

 olive branch and arrows denote the hope for 

 peace and the power for war, both peace and 

 war being subject to the will of Congress, which 

 body is typified in the eagle. The constellation 

 denotes the thirteen original states of the 



