BERNICLE GOOSE. isa 
an egg, it was produced from a shell which grew on trees 
and rotten wood, and the shell was therefore called the 
Goose-bearing shell, (Lepas anatifera.) For this foolish idea 
there was no other foundation than pieces of wood and 
decayed trees being often found in parts of the sea frequented 
by these Geese, all covered over with these shells, which 
seem to grow upon little stalks; and as the feelers of the 
fish within it are feathered or fringed, they were supposed 
to be, the downy coverings of the young Goslings.’ 
As a curious specimen of ignorant reasoning and eredulity, 
we shall extract an account written by the sage Gerard, as 
he was called, author of a well-known book called ‘Gerard’s 
Herbal, or History of Plants.’ This author was born at 
Nantwich, in Cheshire, and lived in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth:— 
‘There is,’ says he, ‘a small island in Lancashire, called ‘the 
Pile of Foulders,’ on the west side of the entrance into 
Moreecombe bay, about fifteen miles south of Ulverston, 
wherein are found the broken pieces of old and_ bruised 
ships, also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old 
and rotten trees, cast up there likewise; wherein is found a 
certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain 
shells, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, 
and of a whiter colour, wherein is contained a thing in form 
like a lace of silke, finely woven as it were tagether; one 
end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as 
the fish of oisters and muskles are: the other end is made 
fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lump, which in time 
cometh to the shape and form of a bird: when it is perfectly 
formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that 
appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string; next come the tegs 
of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater, it 
openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come 
forth, and hangeth only by the bill. In short space after, 
it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where 
it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowl bigger than a 
Mallard, and lesser than a Goose, which the people m 
Lancashire call by no other name than a Tree Goose; which 
place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining, do so much 
abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three- 
pence.’ So fully convinced was the sage Gerard of the ‘truth 
hereof,’ that he closes his account with an invitation to all 
who doubted the fact to apply to him:—‘If any doubt, may 
