shape
like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish
color." This description, it may be remarked, clearly applies to the
barnacles themselves. Gerard then continues to point out how, when the
shell is perfectly formed, it "gapeth open, and the first thing that
appeereth is the foresaid lace or string"--the substance described by
Gerard as contained within the shell--"next come the legs of the Birde
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 commeth to full maturitie, and falleth
into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a foule,
bigger than a Mallard, and lesser than a Goose, having blacke legs and
bill or beake, and feathers blacke and white ... which the people of
Lancashire call by no other name than a tree Goose."

[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE BARNACLE TREE. (From Gerard's "Herball.")]

Accompanying this description is the engraving of the barnicle tree
(Fig. 1) bearing its geese progeny. From the open shells in two cases,
the little geese are seen protruding, whilst several of the
fully-fledged fowls are disporting themselves in the sea below.
Gerard's concluding piece of information, with its exordium, must not
be omitted. "They spawne," says the wise apothecary, "as it were, in
March or Aprill; the Geese are found in Maie or June, and come to
fulnesse of feathers in the moneth after. And thus hauing, through
God's assistance, discoursed somewhat at large of Grasses, Herbes,
Shrubs, Trees, Mosses, and certaine excrescences of the earth, with
other things moe incident to the Historic thereof, we conclude and end
our present volume, with this woonder of England. For which God's name
be euer honored and praised." It is to be remarked that Gerard's
description of the goose-progeny of the barnacle tree exactly
corresponds with the appearance of the bird known to ornithologists as
the "barnacle-goose"; and there can be no doubt that, skilled as was
this author in the natural history lore of his day, there was no other
feeling in his mind than that of firm belief in and pious wonder at
the curious relations between the shells and their fowl-offspring.
Gerard thus attributes the origin of the latter to the barnacles. He
says nothing of the "wormeetin" holes and burrows so frequently
mentioned by Boece, nor would he have agreed with the latter in
crediting the "nature of