INTRODUCTION. 17 



those of a mussel, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour ; 

 wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silk finely 

 woven as it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof 

 is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters 

 and mussels are ; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a 

 rude mass or lump, which in time cometh to the shape and form 

 of a bird ; when it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, 

 and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string ; 

 next come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth 

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

 come forth, and hangeth only by the bill. In short space it 

 cometh to full maturity, and falleth into the sea, where it 

 gathereth feathers, and growetli to a fowl, bigger than a Mallard, 

 and lesser than a Goose, having black legs and a bill or beak, and 

 feathers black and white, spotted in such manner as our Magpie, 

 called in some places a Pie Annet, which the people of Lancashire 

 call by no other name than a Tree Goose ; which place aforesaid, 

 and all those parts adjacent, do so much abound therewith, that 

 one of the best may be bought for threepence. For the truth 

 hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair unto me, and 1 

 shall satisfy them ly the testimony of credible witnesses." 



It is scarcely conceivable how any one could have been so led 

 away by the love of the marvellous, as to rest upon the most 

 superficial resemblance, in proof of the extraordinary supposition, 

 that from a Barnacle is produced a Bird ; especially when the 

 Author tells us that so far he is satisfied by his own observation, 

 of kt what his eyes have seen and his hands have touched." The 

 other part of his story, setting forth that these Barnacles grow 

 upon trees, which he learned "from the writings of others, and 

 also from the mouths of people of those parts," is by no means 

 so discordant with truth, as they certainly do grow on trees, 

 though not produced by them. Those who have seen the 

 Mangrove trees (BOTANY, 598) surrounding the lagoons in the 

 islands of the tropical ocean, their pendent branches loaded with 



