10 



THE MUSEUM. 



The barnacle has three pairs of jaws. 

 The two outer pairs are horny and 

 toothed, while the inner one is soft 

 and has no teeth. 



"When the tide is out, all the cas- 

 tles of the barnacles are tightly closed, 

 but, as soon as it comes in, the rocks 

 on which they live seem to be alive, 

 so busily do they all work at their 

 fishing, which they coniinue as long as 

 the water covers them. 



"Barnacles have varying tastes 

 which they display in the selection of 

 their homes. The acorn barnacles 

 encrust piles and rocks. One kind 

 makes for itself a cosy burrow, by 

 means of the horny spines which grow 

 upon it. One species is parasitical on 

 sharks, and still other kinds live on 

 turtles, sunfish and blackfish. One 

 of the commonest is the ship barnacle, 

 which grows very rapidly. Some- 

 times a vessel leaves port without a 

 single barnacle on her hull. She 

 makes but a short voyage, but on re- 

 turning to her starting point it is found 

 that whole colonies of barnacles have 

 fastened themselves to the outside of 

 her hull. This species developes a 

 long stalk so that it sometimes hangs 

 down sixteen inches in the water 



"There is a curious old myth con- 

 nected with the ship barnacle, or as it 

 is sometimes called, the goose barn- 

 acle. Two hundred and fifty years 

 ago many people believed that a little 

 goose was hatched from this barnacle. 

 As these geese were produeed by a 

 fish, it was allowable to eat them on 

 days when meat was prohibited by the 

 church. Gerard, in the appendix to 

 his History of Plants, written in 1633, 

 announces that, having arrived at the 

 end of his history, he thinks it 'not 

 impertinent to the conclusion of the 

 same to end with one of the marvels 

 of this land (we may fay of the world).' 

 He says that in the north parts of 

 Scotland are 'certaine trees whereon 

 doe grow certaine shell fishes of white 

 color tending to russet, wherein are 

 contained little living creatures, which 

 shells in time of maturitie doe open 



and out of them come those little liv- 

 ing fowles whom we call barnacles.' ' 



Collecting Fresh-Water Shells. * 



The study of the Mollusca, or'Con- 

 chology as it is popularly called, is one 

 of the most fascinating pursuits known 

 to the naturalist. These lowly creat- 

 ures are easy to collect and their shells 

 may be preserved with little or no 

 trouble, and a collection of them is 

 not only an object of interest to the 

 student, but is of interest to those not 

 engaged in the study, on account of its 

 beauty. In the present article the 

 writer has attempted to explain the 

 best methods of collecting and pre- 

 serving the fresh-water forms in this 

 branch of zoology. 



The collecting outfit is quite simple, 

 but efficient; an ordinary fish-basket 

 makes one of the best collecting re- 

 ceptacles, in which may be carried 

 several tin mustard boxes or two-ounce 

 bottles with wide mouths and a large, 

 oblong market-basket will be found 

 invaluable to carry the bulkier kind, 

 like Unio. A dip net, made like a 

 butterfly net, only much stouter, will 

 be of great use in dredging in the soft 

 mud for small bivalves like Sphserium. 

 Several small homcepathic vials willbe 

 found useful to put the smaller spe- 

 cies in, but the cork should be attach- 

 ed to the bottle by a string so it will 

 not be lost. A flat-bladed knife or 

 small trowel and a pair of small 

 tweezers, the points of which should 

 meet evenly, will complete the collect- 

 ing outfit. A scoop made of fine wire 

 gauze will make a useful dredge with 

 which to scoop the mud out of shallow 

 ponds and rivers. 



A small dredge, similar to those 

 used in deep sea dredging is of great 

 value in collecting in the larger lakes 

 and rivers. A strong man, or better, 

 two men should row the bo'it and the 

 one having charge of the dredge should 

 be ever on the alert for obstructions 

 on the bottom so that the dredge may 



* Frank C. Baker iu Popular Science, pub- 

 lished at lis Fulton St., New York. 



