e case, however; the
apparent movement arising from the manner in which the lower jaw and
the skull are joined together. The belief in the absence of the tongue
is even more readily explained. When the mouth is widely opened, no
tongue is to be seen. This organ is not only present, but is,
moreover, of large size; it is, however, firmly attached to the floor
of the mouth, and is specially adapted, from its peculiar form and
structure, to assist these animals in the capture and swallowing of
their prey.

One of the most curious fables regarding animals which can well be
mentioned, is that respecting the so-called "Bernicle" or "Barnacle
Geese," which by the naturalists and educated persons of the Middle
Ages were believed to be produced by those little Crustaceans named
"Barnacles." With the "Barnacles" every one must be familiar who has
examined the floating driftwood of the sea-beach, or who has seen
ships docked in a seaport town. A barnacle is simply a kind of crab
enclosed in a triangular shell, and attached by a fleshy stalk to
fixed objects. If the barnacle is not familiar to readers, certain
near relations of these animals must be well known, by sight at least,
as amongst the most familiar denizens of our sea-coast. These latter
are the "Sea-Acorn," or Balani, whose little conical shells we crush
by hundreds as we walk over the rocks at low-water mark; whilst every
wooden pile immersed in the sea becomes coated in a short time with a
thick crust of the "Sea-Acorns." If we place one of these little
animals, barnacle, or sea-acorn--the latter wanting the stalk of the
former--in its native waters, we shall observe a beautiful little
series of feathery plumes to wave backward and forward, and ever and
anon to be quickly withdrawn into the secure recesses of the shell.
These organs are the modified feet of the animal, which not only serve
for sweeping food-particles into the mouth, but act also as
breathing-organs. We may, therefore, find it a curious study to
inquire through what extraordinary transformation and confusion of
ideas such an animal could be credited with giving origin to a
veritable goose; and the investigation of the subject will also afford
a singularly apt illustration of the ready manner in which the fable
of one year or period becomes transmitted and transformed into the
secure and firm belief of the next.

We may begin our investigation by inquiring into some of the opinions
which were entertai