THE TREE-GOOSE. 
363 
birds, from an egg, it was produced from a shell which grew 
on trees and rotten wood; and the shell was, therefore, 
called the Goose-hearing shell (. Lepas anatifera). For this 
foolish idea there was no other foundation than pieces of 
wood and decayed trees being often found in parts of the 
sea frequented by these Geese, all covered over with these 
shells, which seem to grow upon little stalks; and as the 
feelers of the fish within it are feathered, or fringed, they 
were supposed to be the downy covering of the young 
Goslings. 
As a curious specimen of ignorant reasoning and credulity, 
we shall extract an account, written by the sage Gerard, as 
he was called, author of a well-known book, called Gerard’s 
Herbal , or History of Plants. This author was born at 
Nantwich, in Cheshire, and lived in the time of Queen Eliza- 
beth. “ There is,” says he, “ a small island in Lancashire 
called the Pile of Foulders (on the west side of the entrance 
into Morecambe-bay, about fifteen miles south of Ulverston), 
wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised 
ships, and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of 
old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise ; whereon is 
found a certain spume, or froth, that in time breedeth unto 
certain shells, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper 
pointed, and of a whitish 
colour, wherein is contained 
a thing in form like a lace 
of silke, finely woven as it 
were together ; one end 
whereof is fastened unto the 
inside of the shell, even as 
the fish of oisters and mus- 
kles are; the other end is 
made fast unto the belly of 
a rude masse or lump, which 
in time cometh to the shape 
and form of a bird : when it 
is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first 
thing that appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string; next 
Bernacle Goose-shell. 
( Lepas anatifera.) 
