1830 



AIIBOKETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



I'AUT III. 



from a log of wood washed on shore near Liverpool, in November, 1830, shows 

 the manner in which the shells are found attached to the pieces of wood. In 

 the Aiiiulct for 1830 is a very interesting paper by Dr. Walsh, in which he 

 sj)eaks of the goose, which wiis 

 anciently supposed to be pro- 

 duced from the Lepas r/natifera. 

 " This bird, which is commonly 

 called the barnacle goose (.I'nser 

 Bcrmcla VVilld.), is found in great 

 abundance on the coast of Ire- 

 land, and particularly in the Bay 

 of Bannow. It feeds on the tu- 

 berous roots of an aquatic grass, 

 which is full of saccharine juice; 

 and from this food, instead of 

 the rank taste of other sea-fowl 

 which feed partly on fish, the 

 bird has a delicate flavour. The 

 strange story of its springing 

 from the shell of the Lepas was 

 first broached by Giraldus Cam- 

 brensis, who accompanied the 

 early invaders to Ireland ; and 

 who, finding abundance of these 

 delicate-tasted geese on the coast, 

 and also seeing abundance of 

 shells, attached at one end by 

 a fleshy membrane to a log of ^ 

 wood, and having at the other a 

 fibrous beard, like ihe feathers of a fowl, curling round the shell, fancied the 

 rest of the story, which was readily believed from that natural appetite for 

 the monstrous which prevails wherever the great mass of people are in a state 

 of ignorance." Before the Reformation, 

 Dr. Walsh tells us, the fishy origin of 

 this bird was so firmly believed, that the 

 question was warmly and learnedly dis- 

 puted as to whether it might not be 

 eaten in Lent. 



Parasites and Epiphytes. The enume- 

 ration of the parasitic and other plants 

 which live on the common oak, and 

 which cease to exist when the tree 

 ceases to live, would form, says M. Mar- 

 quis (Essai sur les Harmonies Vigetalcs 

 ct Animates du Chene), "a long cata- 

 logue." Besides these, there are many 

 which grow on the ground near the tree, 

 and which are nourished by its decay- 

 ing leaves. Among the plants which are 

 found on the trunk and branches of the 

 common oak, are various fungi, and nu- 

 merous lichens, which cover the trunk 

 with green, brown, white, or yellowish 

 spots, till it often happens that, at a 

 little distance, it resembUs marble. Va- 

 rious kinds of ferns also grow upon the 

 base of the trunk ; and mosses, and 

 other terrestrial plants, grow in the de- 

 caying bark. 



The terrestrial plants, which are found rooted into the decaying bark of old 



165a 



