BARNACLE GEESE—GOOSE BARNACLES. 



113 



published a monograph ' On the Tree-bird ' * in which he 

 explains the process of its birth, and states that he opened 

 a hundred of the goose-bearing shells and found the rudi- 

 ments of the bird fully formed. 



So slow Bootes underneath him sees, 

 In th' icy isles, those goslings hatched on trees, 

 Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, 

 Are turned, they say, to living fowls soon after ; 

 So rotten sides of broken ships do change, 

 To barnacles, O, transformation strange ! 

 'Twas first a green tree ; then a gallant hull ; 

 Lately a mushroom ; then a flying guU.f 



Now, let us turn from fiction to facts. 

 Almost every one is acquainted with at least one kind of 

 the Barnacle shells which were supposed to enclose the 



FIG 37. — SECTION OF A SESSILE BARNACLE. Balamis tintiiinahiihim. 



embryo of a goose, namely the small white conical hillocks 

 which are found, in tens of thousands, adhering to stones, 

 rocks, and old timber such as the piles of piers, and may 

 be seen affixed to the shells of oysters and mussels in any 

 fishmonger's shop. The little animals which secrete and 



* ' De Volucri Arborea,' 1629. 



t Du Bartas' " Divine Week " p. 228. Joshua Sylvester's translation. 



I 



