SOME FACTS AND FICTIONS OF ZOOLOGY. 77 



familiar denizens of our sea-coasts. These latter are the " Sea- 

 Acorns " or Balani, whose little conical shells we crush by 

 hundreds as we walk over the rocks at low-water mark ; 

 whilst every wooden pile immersed in the sea becomes 

 coated in a short time with a thick crust of these "Sea- 

 Acorns." If we place one of these little animals, 'barnacle 

 or sea-acorn the latter wanting the stalk of the former in 

 its native waters, we shall observe a beautiful little series of 

 feathery plumes to wave backwards and forwards, and ever 

 and anon to be quickly withdrawn into the secure recesses 

 of the shell. These organs are the modified feet of the 

 animal, which not only serve for sweeping food-particles into 

 the mouth, but act also as breathing-organs. We may, 

 therefore, find it a curious study to inquire through what 

 extraordinary transformation and confusion of ideas such 

 an animal could be credited with giving origin to a veritable 

 goose ; and the investigation of the subject will also afford a 

 singularly apt illustration of the ready manner in which the 

 fable of one year or period becomes transmitted and 

 transformed into the secure and firm belief of the next. 



We may begin our investigation by inquiring into some 

 of the opinions which were entertained on this subject and 

 ventilated by certain old writers. Between 1154 and 1189 

 Giraldus Cambrensis, in a work entitled " Topographia 

 Hibernise," written in Latin, remarks concerning "many 

 birds which are called Bernaciz : against nature, nature 

 produces them in a most extraordinary way. They are like 

 marsh geese, but somewhat smaller. They are produced 

 from fir timber tossed along the sea, and are at first like 

 gum. Afterwards they hang down by their beaks, as if from 

 a sea-weed attached to the timber, surrounded by shells, in 

 order to grow more freely." Giraldus is here evidently 

 describing the barnacles themselves. He continues : 

 " Having thus, in process of time, been clothed with a 

 strong coat of feathers, they either fall into the water or fly 

 freely away into the air. They derive their food and growth 

 from the sap of the wood or the sea, by a secret and most 



