186 
LECTURE XI. 
mentioned this goose-bearing shell is Gerard, the 
author of the well-known Herbal. His account 
runs as follows. “ But what our eyes have seen, 
and hands have touched, we shall declare. There 
is a small island in Lancashire called the pile of 
Fowlders, wherein are found the broken pieces of 
old and bruised ships, some whereof have been 
cast thither by shipwracke, and also of the trunks 
and bodies, with the branches of old rotten trees 
cast there likewise 5 whereon is found a certain 
spume or froth that in time breedeth unto certaine 
shells in shape like those of a muskle, but sharper 
pointed, and of a whitish colour ; wherein is con- 
tained a thing in form like a lace of silk, finely 
woven, as it were, together, of a whitish colour, one 
end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, 
even as the fish of oysters and muscles are : the 
other end is made faste unto the belly of a rude 
masse or lumpe, which in time commeth unto the 
shape and forme of a bird. When it is perfectly 
formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing 
that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string : next 
come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it 
groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, 
till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only 
