MARCH 57 



shield in the middle, with a column on each side dividing 

 it from two draped figures, Theophrastus on the left and 

 Dioscorides on the right. Above these two figures, but 

 divided from them by a line, are Ceres and Pomona, both 

 fully draped. Ceres has a sheaf of wheat in her arms, and 

 behind her grows the Indian corn. A ploughed field is 

 spread out in the distance on her left. In the middle, 

 between these figures, are growing plants and flowers and 

 an orchard. At the bottom of the page is a fine portrait 

 of Gerarde, holding a flower I do not recognise. He is 

 dressed in the correct costume and ruffle of Charles I. 

 On each side of him the spaces are filled by two vases 

 of different shape and design, in which are various 

 flowers arranged in a stiff and formal manner, typical of 

 flower arrangements in that time and long after, as we 

 see depicted by art in this and other countries. Nowhere 

 on the page does there appear any representation of the 

 Vegetable Lamb, nor can I find any reference to it in the 

 text. On the other hand, however, there is an elaborate 

 allusion to what Mr. Lee describes in his book on the 

 Vegetable Lamb, before mentioned, as the companion 

 superstition of the Barnacle Geese. Gerarde gives a most 

 interesting and detailed account too long, alas ! for me to 

 quote of having seen the barnacles and watched their 

 development into tree-geese. He corroborates his own 

 observation by quoting the like experience of others. He 

 also states in all gravity that ' the shells wherein is bred 

 the barnacle are taken up in a small island adjoining to 

 Lancashire, half a mile from the mainland, called the 

 Pile of Foulders.' Mr. Lee says : ' The growth and 

 development of the story of " the Scythian Lamb " from 

 the similarity of appearance of two really different objects 

 may be best explained by comparing it with another 

 natural-history myth which ran curiously parallel to it. 

 I allude to the fable that Sir John Mandeville tells us he 



