248 



BARNACLES. 



the truth of this monstrous absurdity. Gesner, too, and 

 Aldrovandus * may be also cited. 



THE BARNACLE GOOSE TREE. From A IdrmtlHdlts 



A second phase or modification of the story is that 

 given by Boece, the oldest Scottish historian : he denies 

 that the geese (Scottice, Claiks) grow on trees by their 

 bills, as some believe, but that, as his own researches and 

 personal experience prove, they are first produced in the 

 form of worms, in the substance of old trees or timber 

 floating in the sea ; for such a tree, cast on shore in 1480, 

 was brought to the laird, who ordered it to be sawn 

 asunder, when there appeared a multitude of worms, 

 "throwing themselves out of sundry holes and bores of 



* Aldrovandi Opera Omina : Ornithologia. 3 vols. Bononicc. 1599. 



