BARNACLES. 
251 
as the fish of oisters and muskles are ; the other ende is 
made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which 
in time cometh to 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 by the bill; in short 
space after, it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into 
the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle 
bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose, having 
blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and 
white, spotted in such manner as is our magge-pie, called 
in some places a pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire 
call by no other name than a tree-goose ; which place 
aforesaide, and all those parts adjoining, do so much 
abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for 
three-pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it 
please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them 
by the testimonie of good witnesses.” 
Meyer, who wrote a treatise on this “ bird without 
father or mother,” states that he opened a hundred of the 
goose-bearing shells, and in all of them found the rudi¬ 
ments of the bird completely formed. 
Sir Robert Murray, in an account of the barnacle 
published in the “ Philosophical Transactions,” says that 
“ these shells are hung at the tree by a neck, longer than 
