THE MARVEL OF A TIDE 319 



formed by the mechanics of need into living seines, must be 

 seen to be appreciated. A barnacle's legs— even though these 

 appendages resemble feathers more than they do legs— are as 

 important to a barnacle as hands to a person, fins to a fish, or 

 vikings to a bird. Although walking is unthought of, their entire 

 existence is dependent on their limbs; their breathing is possible 

 because these organs circulate the water necessary for the 

 separation of oxygen; and the status of the barnacle's stomach 

 is directly in ratio to the functioning of the legs. A barnacle 

 lives because it kicks. 



Contrary to popular belief, a barnacle is not a shell fish, al- 

 though it spends almost its entire life period tightly encased in 

 a shell. Instead it owes allegiance to the great Class Crustacea, 

 and in its family tree are the lobsters, the shrimps, and our other 

 friend of the epicures, the edible crab. The name of its sub- 

 class is the Cirripedia, which means, literally, the "feathery- 

 footed." 



Biologists, not being above error, for a long time considered 

 the barnacles as aberrant relatives of the mollusks, and it was 

 not until some thoughtful soul undertook to study the early 

 stages of this creature that the truth became apparent. It was 

 discovered that, after hatching, the young barnacle was so un- 

 like the adult that it seemed impossible that the two could be 

 parent and progeny. The infant had no shell at all; it swam and 

 it looked like nothing on earth quite so much as an outlandish 

 mosquito. It was studded with hairs and bristles, with spikes 

 and long trailing appendages. But it obviously was a crusta- 

 cean, for it was segmented and resembled the young of cer- 

 tain other crustaceans. In time the microscopic monstrosity 

 molted, then again and again,- altering its shape until oddly 

 enough it grew a small shell on each side of its changed anat- 

 omy. At this period of its development it wandered about seek- 

 ing a place to settle down to begin housekeeping as a full- 



