BARNACLES. 25 I 



as the fish of oisters and muskles are ; the other ende is 

 made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which 

 in time cometh to the shape and forme 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 after, it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into 

 the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle 

 bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose, having 

 blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and 

 white, spotted in such manner as is our magge-pie, called 

 in some places a pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire 

 call by no other name than a tree-goose ; which place 

 aforesaide, and all those parts adjoining, do so much 

 abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for 

 three-pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it 

 please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them 

 by the testimonie of good witnesses." 



Meyer, who wrote a treatise on this " bird without 

 father or mother," states that he opened a hundred of the 

 goose-bearing shells, and in all of them found the rudi- 

 ments of the bird completely formed. 



Sir Robert Murray, in an account of the barnacle 

 published in the " Philosophical Transactions," says that 

 " these shells are hung at the tree by a neck, longer than 



