3 o8 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



for hours incessantly, as the water flows over its resting- 

 place. The animal can live for a long time out of water, 

 and in some situations thus passes half its life. Under 

 such circumstances, the shells, containing a reserve of 

 moisture, remain firmly closed until the return of the tide 

 brings a fresh supply of water and food. These are the 

 "acorn-barnacles," the balani, commonly known in some 

 localities as " chitters." 



Barnacles of another kind are those furnished with a long 

 stem, or peduncle, which Sir Robert Moray described as 

 " round, hollow, and creased, and not unlike the wind-pipe 

 of a chicken." The stem has, in fact, the ringed formation 

 of the annelids, or worms. The shelly valves are thin, flat 

 and in shape somewhat like a mitre. They are composed 

 of five pieces, two on each side, and one, a kind of rounded 

 keel along the back of the valves, by which these are 

 united. The shells are delicately tinted with lavender or 

 pale blue varied with white, and the edges are frequently 

 of a bright chrome yellow or orange colour. 



It is not an uncommon occurrence for a large plank 

 entirely covered with these " necked barnacles " to be found 

 floating at sea and brought ashore for exhibition at some 

 watering-place ; and I have more than once sent portions 

 of such planks to the Aquaria at Brighton, and the Crystal 

 Palace. 



It is most interesting to watch a .dense mass of living 

 cirripedes so closely packed together that not a speck of 

 the surface of the wood is left .uncovered by them ; their 

 fleshy stalks overhanging each other, and often attached 

 in clusters to those of some larger individuals ; their 

 plumose casting-nets ever gathering in the food that 

 comes within their reach, and carrying towards the mouth 

 any solid particles suitable for their sustenance. How 



