BARNACLES. 249 



the tree ; some of them were rude, as they were new- 

 shapen ; some had both head, feet, and wings, but they 

 had no feathers ; some of them were perfect-shapen fowls. 

 At last the people, having this tree each day in more 

 admiration, brought it to the kirk of St. Andrew's, beside 

 the town of Tyre, where it yet remains to our days." 

 Other instances he adduces by way of proof, and at length 

 he comes to the conclusion, that the production of these 

 geese from fruits is the erroneous opinion of the ignorant ; 

 it being ascertained that " they are produced only by the 

 nature of the ocean sea, which is the cause and production 

 of many wonderful things." 



In this view he was supported by Turner and others : 

 " When," says Turner, " at a certain time an old ship, or 

 a plank, or a pine-mast rots in the sea, something like a 

 little fungus at first makes its appearance, which at length 

 puts on the manifest form of birds ; afterwards these are 

 clothed with feathers, and at last become living and flying 

 fowl." ("Avium Praecip. Hist.," Art. " ANSER.") Turner, 

 however, does not give up the goose-tree, but informs Gesner 

 that it is a different bird from the brent or bernicle goose, 

 which takes its origin from it. (Gesner, " De Avibus," iii. 

 p. 107.) Passing a host of other authorities, with their 

 accumulated proofs, and the depositions of unimpeachable 

 witnesses, we may come to Gerard, who, in 1597, pub- 

 lished the following account in his " Herball, or Generall 

 Historie of Plantes " : — 



K K 



