14 



about two feet and a half in diameter and nine or ten feet long, which had lain so 

 long out of the water that it was very dry, and most of the shells that had 

 covered it were worn or rubbed off, only the parts that lay next to the ground: 

 there still hung multitudes of little shells, they were of the color and con- 

 sistence of muscle shells. This barnacle shell is thin about the edges, and 

 about half as thick as broad. Every one of the shells hath some cross seams 

 or sutures, which, as I remember, divide it into five parts: these parts are fast- 

 ened one to another, with such a film as muscle shells have. These shells 

 are hung at the tree by a neck longer than the shell, of a kind of filmy sub- 

 stance round and hollow, and creased not unlike the windpipe of a chicken, 

 spreading out broadest where it is fastened to the tree, from which it seems to 

 draw and convey the matter which serves for the growth and vegetation of 

 the shell and little bird within it. In every shell that I opened I found a 

 perfect sea-fowl, the little bill like that of a goose; the eyes marked; the head, 

 neck, breast, wing, tail, and feet, formed ; the feathers everywhere per- 

 fectly shaped and blackish colored, and the feet like those of other water- 

 fowl, to my best remembrance." 



Few subjects seems to have been more circumstantially related, or to rest 

 on better evidence, than the above; so natural to man is credulity, which 

 passes all bounds where prodigy of an event takes firm hold of the imagination, 

 and lays the understanding asleep. Such are the wild chimeras that have been 

 retailed concerning the origin of barnacles; and as these fables once had great 

 celebrity, I have been induced to relate them, to show how contagious the 

 errors of science are, and how prone men are to the fascinations of the mar- 

 vellous. Barnacle geese are not uncommon on many of the northern and west- 

 ern coasts of Britain in winter; but they are scarce in the south, and are seldom 

 seen except in inclement seasons. They leave in February, and retire north- 

 ward to breed. 



This genus is divided into two, each having their families. 



DIVISION I. Affixed at the base to other substances. 

 Family 1st. Sessile. 



Scientific name. Locality. Scientific name. Locality. 



Balanus, Europe, &c. Conoides, Weymouth. 



Balanoides, " Palmipes, Atlantic Isles. 



Tintinnabulum, East & W. Indies. Minor, Indian Islands. 



Scotica, Scotland. Angustata, Coast of Africa, &c. 



Costata, Wales. Elongata, Britain, &c. 



