AUGUST 1902. 



THE coating of acorn barnacles with which the higher 

 surfaces of the Rock and also the base of the tower are 

 whitened in summer is fast disappearing before the ravages 

 of that ruthless destroyer the white whelk. Seen from the 

 balcony, this encrustation resembles a lime-haurled wall, and 

 presents a suitable background for the observation of moving 

 objects under water. These barnacles are frequently mis- 

 taken by the casual observer for young limpets, whereas, 

 unlike the limpet, which moves freely from place to place in 

 quest of vegetable diet, the moment the young barnacle settles 

 to erect his limey habitation, he possesses a fixity of tenure 

 which terminates only with his existence. An outer wall, 

 with razor edges, surrounds a hollow cone, his private apart- 

 ment, and probably guards his four-leaved door from injury. 

 This opening, through which all business with the outer world 

 is transacted, is scarcely discernible when above water ; but 

 immediately the tide covers it, the hollow cone is seen to fall 

 apart in four vertical sections, a bunch of fingers is thrust 

 forth and rhythmic clutches made at invisible food. How 

 little they resemble their relatives who swing by their 

 pendulous stalks from ships' bottoms or submerged wreckage, 

 and see the world without any exertion of their own. The 

 ancients firmly believed that from these animals certain birds 

 were produced, probably from the resemblance of their shelly 

 casement to the beak of a bird, and the bird known as the 

 barnacle-goose owes his name to this belief. Even to-day 

 there are persons who solemnly declare that the Northern 

 Diver is so evolved. 



Another fallacy common amongst fishing communities on 

 the West Coast is the attributing the destructive effects of 



