DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIP BAKNACLE. 149 



On placing them in water one only of the creatures 

 showed any signs of life, and by next morning they 

 made the ^central organ of my face so highly in- 

 dignant that, in order to allay its irritability, I was 

 obliged to remove the defunct animals to the outside 

 of the window. There they remained for several 

 months, and were eventually transferred to the 

 privacy of a card-board box. Although twelve 

 months have elapsed since the last-mentioned re- 

 moval took place, these creatures even now, when 

 the lid of the case is lifted, give out a smell, so 

 ' antient and fish-like/ that I believe not a few of 

 ' the sweet perfumes of Arabia 9 w^ould be needed in 

 order to subdue its power. 



One cluster contained thirty Lepades, and the 

 other eighteen. The average length of each Barnacle 

 is about three or four inches. One, however, mea- 

 sured nearly ten inches. The fleshy stalk is of a 

 purplish-grey colour, semi-transparent, and perfectly 

 smooth. The shell, which consists of five pieces, is 

 bluish-white, while that portion from whence the 

 cirri protrude appears of a brilliant orange, the cirri 

 themselves being exquisitely tinted with violet, 

 shaded off to a deep purple. 



I may here mention that the above animal was by 

 our ancestors most unaccountably supposed to be the 

 young of the solan goose ! a bird that haunts in 

 vast numbers the Bass Eock and Ailsa Craig. 

 Indeed, a common belief in different parts of Scot- 



