248 BARNACLES. 
the truth of this monstrous absurdity. Gesner, too, and 
Aldrovandus * may be also cited. 
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. Bononiae. 1599- 
