ANNELIDS. 69 



much by the writings of others, and also from the mouths of 

 people of those parts, which may very well accord with truth." 

 He then proceeds in a strain which mai-ks the downright 

 smcerity of this honest and laborious old naturalist, who had 

 mistaken the soft parts of the barnacle for a bird. " But 

 what our eyes have seen and our hands have touched, we shall 

 declare. There is a small island in Lancashu-e, called the 

 Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old 

 and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by 

 shipwreck, and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches, 

 of old and rotten trees cast up there hkewise, whereon is found 

 a certam spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain 



BARNACLES. 



Fig. 42. — Shell of Lbpas. Fig. 43. — Body of Lepas. 



shells in shape like those of a mussel, but shai-per pointed and 

 of a whitish colour ; wherein is contained a thing in fonn like 

 a lace of silk finely woven, as it were, together, of a whitish 

 colour, one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the 

 shell, even as the fish of oysters and mussels are; the other 

 end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass 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 foresaid lace or string; next come the 

 legs of the bu-d hanging out, and, as it groweth greater, it 

 openeth the shell by degi'ces, till at length it is all come forth, 

 and hangeth only by the bill. In short space it cometh to 

 fnll maturity, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth 

 feathers and groweth to a fowl bigger than a Mallard and 

 lesser than a Goose," 



