Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-27

.
III always close to the sea
producedat the ends Of
their branches fruit in
shape like apples, each containing the embryo
of a goose, which, when the fruit was ripe fell
into the water and file away. A variation on
this idea was that the birds were bred from a
fungus growing on rotten timber floating in
the ocean and were first developed as worms in
the substance of the wood.
Many people IN various parts of Europe used
to eat in Lent the flesh of the geese which were
supposed to be thus produced. on the plea that
1t WAS meat not of birds, but of fishes Giral-
dus. archdeacon Of Brecknock in the reign of
Henry ii. being a jealous reformer in religion,
protested against this custom. At the same
time, he entertained no doubt as to the truth
OF the popular belief respecting their origin.
He writes:
They are produced from timber tossed
about at sea. They hang from the wood by
their beaks and are inclosed in shells at first
Having, in the course of time, been clothed
with a covering of feathers they either fall into
the water or seek liberty in the air by flight.
The embryo geese derive their growth and
nutriment from the moisture Of the wood in a
secret and most marvellous manner. 1 have
seen with my own eyes more than a thousand
minute bodies of these birds hanging from one
piece OF timber on the shore inclosed in shells
and already formed"
FLESH OR FISH.
At one period dispute arose among the He
brews as to whether the geese supposed to be thus
derived should be killed as esh or as fish. It
was finally decided that the former alternative
was the proper one. Pope Innocent Ill took
the same view; for at the Lateran council in
1915. he prohibited the eating OF "barnacle
geese" during Lent. This question gave rise
to great controversy among the learned doc
fora f,fp lie rrJi
declaring that the geese should be classed as
fishes. and not as birds. Thus it came about
that large numbers of them were annually sent
to France from England and Scotland for con-
sumption in Lent.
In Brittany these geese are to this day allowed
to be eaten on Fridays In Bombay alse,
where fish is prohibited as food to certain
classes Of the population, the priests call the
same birds a ''sea vegetable" under which
name they are permitted to appear on the
table.
This wonderful production Of birds from liv-
ing or dead timber was not supposed to be con-
fined to Great Britain. Jonas Ramus wrote of
"a particular sort Of geese found in Norway
which leave their seed on old trees and stumps
and blocks lying in the sea. and from that seed
there grow shells fast to the wood. from which
shells by the heat Of the sun young geese are
Matched ,afterward growing up" But. strange to
say. if any pansakng inquirer tried to find a To-
calitv in which these birds could be seen under
going their peculiar process of incubation, the
region sought was invariably somewhere be-
yond. 1t was the old story that miracles will
always flee farther and farther away.
THE TREE GEESE BELIZE.
Notwithstanding the suspicious fact that the
prodigy receded like wil-o'- the wisp whenever
it was persis.ently followed up, this extraordi-
nary belief held fin sway. Sebastian Munster
wrote: I'm Scotland there are trees which pro-
T, r., 80. 81 II. Al
converted into living birds. These are called
tree geese. This tree grows on the Island OF
Pomona. which is not far from Scotland
toward the north" The Orkney Islands, being
quite remote. were popularity supposed to pro-
duce these birds. Another form of the belief
was that the leaves which fell from the trees
into the water were transformed into fishes
while those that fell upon the land became
birds. Albertus Magnus. who died in 1890.
ridiculed the delusion. declaring that he had
seen the geese lay their eggs and hatch them in
the ordinary way. In 1859 certain Dutch sea-
men set down a written declaration to the eff
feet that they had personally seen these birds
sitting on their eggs and Matching them on the
coasts of Nova Zemba.
REMARKABLE ROMANCE.
Nevertheless. Sir Robert Moray, in 1877. one
Of the royal council for the kingdom of Scot
land, read before the British Boyal Society a
description Of some observations made by him.
self In the west of Scotland, confirming the
popular idea as to the origin of the ''barnacle
geese" According to his account he found on
the shore the trunk Of large fir tree covered
with barnacle shells. Attached to the wood
there still hung ''multitudes of little shells
having within them little birds. There was
bird in every shell that opened" says this ex-
traordinary liar. lin the smallest as well as
the Biggest. In each one there appeared to be
nothing wanting for making up a perfect sea
fowl. every part appearing SO distinctly that
the whole looked like large bird seen through
a concave glass. The little DILL was like that of
goose; the eyes marked: the head. neck,
breast. wings, tail and feet formed; the feathers
perfectly shaped ard black: and the feet like
those of other waterfowl, to my best remem-
brance."
In monograph on the stree birds" written
in 1929. Count Maier speaks of having opened
scores Of the goose-bearing shells. in which he
found the embryo birds fully formed. A poet
has sung:
so rotten sides Of broken ships do change
10 barnscies o. transformation strange!
Twas FIRST green tree, than gallant hull;
Lately mushroom. then flying gull.
The whole of this absurd superstition takes
its rise from a very humble and easily explained
source.
THE EXPLANATION.
Nearly every one is acquainted with at least
one kind of the barnac!e shells which were
formerly supposed to inclose embryo geese
namely, the small white conical shells which
found in tens of thousands adhcring to
rocks and old timber. such as the piles of piers
They may be seen affixed TO oysters in any
fshmongers shop. The little animals which
lnhabit these shells belong to a subclass of the
crustacea Their feet. which in the crab and
lobster have the shape of claws, are modified
into tufts OF curled hair-like appendages
When the creature is alive under water the
she'll may be seen to open ut intervals. while
what looks like feathery hand clutches at the
water within its reach and is then quickly
Withdrawn. BY throwing out this casting net
continually the owner procures its food in the
form of minute solid particles and animalcules,
These are sometimes known as acorn barna-
cles.' Another species is furnished with a
long STEM 1t is not uncommon for a log or
plank entirely covered with these .snecLed
barnacles" to be found floating at sea- Some
times they are SO closely packed together that
not a bit OF the surface of the wood is left I'M
covered by them. The most common sort of
the necked barnacles was named bv the great
naturalist Linnaus the '.duck-bearing" barua-
Gle, though he had no belief in the fable, OF
course.
Other kinds of barnacles fix themselves to the
bottoms OF ships, or as parasites on whales
and sharks. and those of the latter sort often
burrow deeply into the skin Of their host The
young barnacle. when newly liberated from the
she'll OF Its parent, Is a very different creature
from what 1t subsequently becomes. 1t begins
Its life as a free-swimming crustacean. having
one large eye in the middle OF it's forehead In
this state 1t is very active 1t changes its outer
covering three times until aff tba