SOME FACTS AXD FICTIONS OF ZOOLOGY. 



Si 



rejectamenta, " a certaine spume or froth " grows, according 

 to Gerard. This spume "in time breedeth unto certaine 

 shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, 

 and of a whitish colour." This description, it may be 

 remarked, clearly applies to the barnacles themselves. 

 Gerard then continues to point out how, when the shell 

 is perfectly formed, it " gapeth dpen, and the first thing that 

 appeereth is the foresaid lace or string" the substance 

 described by Gerard as contained within the shell " next 

 come the legs of the Birde hanging out ; and as it groweth 

 greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is 

 all come foorth, and hangeth only by the bill; in short 

 space after it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the 

 sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a foule, 



bigger than a Mallard, and 

 lesser than a Goose, having 

 blacke legs and bill or 

 beake, and feathers blacke 

 and white . . . which the 

 people of Lancashire call 

 by no other name than 

 a tree Goose." 



Accompanying this de- 

 scription is the engraving 

 of the bernicle tree (Fig. 6) 

 bearing its geese-progeny. 

 From the open shells in 

 two cases, the little geese 

 are seen protruding, whilst 

 several of the fully fledged 

 fowls are disporting them- 

 selves in the sea below. 

 Gerard's concluding piece 

 of information, with its exordium, must not be omitted. "They 

 spawne," says the wise apothecary, " as it were, in March or 

 Aprill ; the Geese are found in Maie or June, and come to 

 fulnesse of feathers in the moneth after. And thus hauing, 



G 



FIG. 6. The barnacle tree (from Gerard's 

 "Herball"). 



