themselves nests formed partly of foreign materials, and partly of a kind of silk secreted for the purpose; and during their construction a small area around each lair was swept clean, as if the animal had procured all the disposable particles fit for the erection of its residence." These little builders generally seek out well-sheltered crevices at the roots of sea-weeds, or under stones and other objects that break the wash of the waves, and there construct abodes for themselves, by scratching together any available substance within reach, and uniting it into a mass by a secretion which they elaborate.

"If we take one of these small nests, and place it under a microscope, we find that it consists, independently of the collected material, of a quantity of fine threads, closely woven and knit together, crossing each other in the utmost confusion; and here and there are seen loops formed by a single thread being doubled and spirally twisted upon itself."

Thus elegant are the contrivances whereby the humblest creatures are defended-thus exquisite the machinery employed, even beneath the silent water, to secure the due accomplishment of the Creator's will! and surely that mind must indeed be apathetic that refuses to survey such beautiful arrangementsthat does not reap enjoyment and inexpressible gratification from such a scene.

"The cheerfulness of heart that springs up in us from the study of Nature's works," says Addison, "is an admirable preparation for gratitude. That mind has gone a long way towards praise and thanksgiving that is filled with such a secret gladness.

A WORD IN FAVOUR OF NATURAL HISTORY. 387

Such an habitual disposition of thought consecrates every field and wood, turns an ordinary walk into a morning or evening sacrifice, and will improve those transient gleams of joy which naturally brighten and refresh the soul on such occasions into an inviolable. and permanent state of happiness. When we find ourselves inspired by this pleasing instinct, this satisfaction and complacency arising from the beauties of Creation, let us consider to whom we stand indebted for all these entertainments of sense, and who it is that thus opens his hand and fills the world with good."

We are therefore by no means disposed to permit the shafts of raillery and ridicule to insult our favourite science without remonstrance; or to allow that there is anything frivolous in a close and earnest investigation of the works of the Almighty; we rather exclaim with Cicero,

"Cultus autem est optimus idemque castissimus atque sanctissimus plenissimusque pietatis."

Natural History is the appointed handmaiden of Religion, enabling us, instead of merely assenting to the existence of a Divine Providence, and recognizing in vague terms the fact of his beneficence, to feel, and in some humble proportion to appreciate, how closely and how carefully the well-being and happiness of all creatures has been provided for-how admirably they are severally adapted to their respective stations and employments, and how wonderfully every part of their œconomy is made subservient to the general good. This is the true spirit in

which the aquariist ought to work, and this the end

and object of his science :

"Let it be hers a voice to raise,

Like those bright hosts in yonder sphere,
Who, while they move, their Maker praise,
And lead around the wreathed year!"

CIRRIPEDES OR BARNACLES.

389

CHAPTER XLII.

CIRRIPEDES OR BARNACLES.

"So slow Bootes underneath him sees,

In the Icy Isles, those Goslins hatch'd of Trees;
Whose fruitful Leaves falling into the Water
Are turn'd, they say, to living Fowls soon after:
So rotten Sides of broken Ships do change
To Barnacles: O Transformation strange!
'Twas first a green Tree, then a gallant Hull,
Lately a Mushrum, then a flying Gull."

"And from the most refined of Saints
As naturally grow miscreants,
As Barnacles turn Soland Geese,

In the Islands of the Orcades."

THE account of the Barnacle given by the sage Gerrard is a rich specimen of the natural history of the sixteenth century. Here it is:

"But what our eyes have seen and our hands have touched we shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders,' wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certaine spume or froth that in time

breedeth into certaine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour, wherein is contained a thing in form like a piece of silke, finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour; one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and muskles are: the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time commeth 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 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 onely 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 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 a manner as our mag-pie, called in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree goose, which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for threepence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good witnesses*."

The belief that the Barnacles are the young or embryo state of the Barnacle Goose (Anas erythropus), and of the Scoter or Black Goose (Anas nigra), is indeed one of those popular errors which has not only * Vide Herbal, p. 1587-88.