NECKED BAENACLES. 281 



delicate, protrudes, which makes its cast for prey, and is 

 withdrawn beneath 'the again-closed valves. 



The winds and waves not unfrequently bear into our 

 harbours fragments of spars, old water-casks, or planks, 

 from the hull of some ill-fated ship foundered in the 

 inhospitable ocean, which are teeming with life. Con- 

 spicuous on such " flotsam and jetsam," as our ancient 

 maritime law-codes term these relics, we mark the 

 Necked Barnacles, 1 so long believed by our ancestors, 

 with a most implicit credence, to be legitimately de- 

 scended from, and to be in turn the regular and normal 

 parents of, a certain species of goose, common enough on 

 our northern shores. That myth may, however, be 

 dismissed with a mere recollection. 



In this form the neck or stalk is greatly developed, 

 frequently reaching to eight inches and upwards in 

 length, with a thickness of half an inch. Externally 

 it is very tough and leathery, yet it is sufficiently flexible 

 to be jerked vigorously in various directions, and thrown 

 into contorted curves, by means of muscles that run 

 through it. The lower part adheres firmly to the sup- 

 port, which is generally wood, and I believe only in a 

 floating condition. The bottoms of ships in warm 

 climates are generally much infested with these para- 



1 Lepas anatifera. A group, the size of life, is seen depending in the 

 upper right-hand comer of Plate xxxi. 



