CHAPTER II. 



THE BARNACLE — ITS EXTRAORDIXARY CHANGE — SINGULAR 

 INSTANCE OF IGNORANCE. 



In the sketch of the mollusca now to be given, there 

 is no intention of entering elaborately into each class, 

 or to follow it throughout its orders or genera ; our 

 aim is to give a few succinct details, expressed in plain 

 and untechnical terms — in fact, to present to the 

 reader a popular and discursive, rather than an ab- 

 strusely scientific work. 



The cirrhopoda, of which the barnacles present us with 

 an example, first require our notice. These have only a 

 doubtful claim to a place among the mollusca, being 

 an intermediate link between this great section and the 

 articulata, (annelides, insects, and Crustacea, such as 

 crayfish, lobsters, etc.) The barnacle (pantalasmis) 

 is a marine animal, often found attached by a fleshy 

 peduncle to rocks, stones, the keels of ships, and 

 masses of floating timber, torn ofi" from wrecked ves- 

 sels. If we take up one of these animals, and examine it, 



