Barnacles. 1 15 



mnslirooms ; so vtq lind_, in tlie works of cin olel 

 poet named Du Bartas^ tliese lines : — - 



"So slow Bootes underneatli him sees 

 In the icy islands goslings hatched of trees, 

 "Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, 

 Are turned, as known, to living fowls soon after; 

 So rotten planks of broken ships do change 

 To Barnacles. O transformation strange ! 

 'Twas first a green tree, then a broken hull, 

 Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull." 



The investigations of modern science have quite 

 exploded this foolish notion ; we now know exactly 

 what transformations the Barnacle undergoes ; 

 strange enough some of them are, lout it does not 

 change into a Goose,, although its specific name has 

 reference to that bird^ being derived from anaSj the 

 Latin for Goose. 



The shell of the Barnacle is composed of five 

 pieces joined together by membranes; four pieces 

 are lateral^ that is to say, they form the sides, the 

 word comes from the Latin latus — a side; the 

 other is a single narrow slip, which fills what would 

 otherwise be an open space down the back between 

 the valves ; these parts of the shell appear to be 

 somewhat loosely connected, so as to allov/ free 

 action to the animal lodf;cd within, which is en- 



