14 THE SEA-SIDE AND AQUABIUM. 



this story, by giving out that the Barnacle Geese were 

 not produced from flesh of any kind, and, therefore, 

 they might be eaten as fish on all fast-days. Such 

 an absurd belief, we might readily suppose, would not 

 fail to afford no small amusement to philosophers and 

 poets living in less credulous ages. It does not 

 escape the keen eye of the author of " Hudibras." 

 Du Bartas also alludes to the popular notion, and 

 even introduces an additional theory, to the effect 

 that the Barnacle sprung from a fungus : 



" So slow Bootes underneath him sees 

 In th' icy islands goslings hatch'd of trees, 

 Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, 

 Are turn'd, as known, to living fowls soon after; 

 So rotten planks of broken ships do change 

 To barnacles transformation strange ! 

 'Twas first a green tree, then a broken hull, 

 Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull." 



