THE OPEN SEA 99 
are calling the Floating Barnacle (Lepas fas- 
cicularis) often fastens itself to a small piece 
of detached seaweed—it may be to a feather 
or a wooden match. Its shell-valves are very 
lightly built, with little lime in them, and this 
‘is well suited for a creature that fixes itself to 
a light float. But in spite of its lightness of 
shell, the Floating Barnacle often becomes, as 
it grows bigger, too heavy for its float, and 
begins to drag it below the surface. What 
then does the creature do—we wish we un- 
derstood it better—but make a somewhat gela- 
tinous, roundish buoy containing bubbles of 
gas. This is secreted at the lower end of the 
attaching stalk, just above the main body, and 
the self-made buoy enables the barnacle to con- 
tinue floating at the surface. This is a very 
pretty adaptation (Fig. 10). 
HUNGER AND LOVE IN THE OPEN SEA 
Hunger is much in evidence in the open sea. 
The baleen whale rushes through the water, 
engulfing countless open-sea creatures in the 
huge cavern of its mouth. They are caught 
on the frayed edges of the whalebone plates 
which hang downwards from the palate. If 
