7 6 



LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



One of the most curious fables regarding animals which 

 can well be mentioned, is that respecting the so-called 



FIG. 4. The bernicle goose. 



" Bernicle " or " Barnacle Geese " (Fig. 4), which by the 

 naturalists and educated persons of the Middle Ages were 

 believed to be produced 

 by those little Crustaceans 

 named "Barnacles." With 

 the "Barnacles" (Fig. 5), 

 every one must be familiar 

 who has examined the 

 floating drift-wood of the 

 sea-beach, or who has seen 

 ships docked in a seaport 

 town. A barnacle is simply 

 a kind of crab enclosed in 

 a triangular shell, and at- 

 tached by a fleshy stalk 

 to fixed objects. If the 

 barnacle is not familiar to 

 readers, certain near rela- 

 tions of these animals must 

 be well known, by sight at 

 least, as amongst the most FlG> 5< _ Group of baraades> 



