A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE over I inch. The adult female is securely fastened to its host by strong branched horns, three in number, which are buried in the tissues of various parts of the gill arches.' ^ Of the family Chondracanthids, Mr. A. Scott mentions Oralien asellinus (Linn.), ' on the gills of a yellow Gurnard {Trig/a hirundo) from the offshore station between Lancashire and Isle of Man ' ; from the same quarter Chondracanthus cornutus (O. F. Miiller), 'on the gills of Plaice (Pleuronectes platessd)^ and he says: 'What appears to be a variety of this species occurs on the gills of the Flounder (P. Jiesus) from the Barrow Channel and other parts of the Lancashire coast'; C. clavatus (Bassett-Smith), 'on the gills of Lemon Soles {Pkuronectes microcephalus),' from Barrow Channel; C. solece (Kroyer), which Bassett-Smith regards as a synonym of C. cornutus. C. lophii (Johnston) is recorded by Mr. I. C. Thompson in 1893 under the name Lernentoma lophii, with the observations that ' numer- ous specimens of this species were recently found by Mr. Corbin adherent to Cod, Ling and Lophius taken off Barrow. The female is from X.o inch or more in length, and is adorned with numerous blunt spines or tubercles over the surface of the body. The oviferous tubes are very long, slender and twisted. The males of this genus are very small and rudimentary, living parasitically on the body of the female.' * In the neighbouring family of Lernasopodids A. Scott reports Charopinus dalmannii (Retzius), ' in the spiracles of the Grey Skate {J^aia batis) from the offshore station between Lancashire and Isle of Man ' ; Brachiella ovalis (Kroyer), 'attached to the gill-rakers of the Common Gurnard {Trigla gurnardus) from the offshore stations,' and of Anchorella uncinata (O. F. Miiller) Mr. Thompson says that ' several specimens were found by Mr. Corbin on the gills of whiting taken in the Mersey estuary.' ' Lastly we have to notice the sub-class Thyrostraca, better known as cirripedes or barnacles. The fact that many of the species, whether pedun- culate or simply sessile, attach themselves to all sorts of moving objects, living or lifeless, makes their distribution wide and irregular. It is quite unlikely that Lancashire should have any species peculiar to itself, but, with a reasonable share of the ordinary species found round our coasts, it probably has numerous exotic forms brought to it on the hulls of vessels from all parts of the globe. With whales may come the balanid Coronula, and on the Coro- nula may appear the lepadid Conchoderma. It is not, however, in these that the county has any separate and individual right to pride itself. Its true interest in the Thyrostraca goes back to ancient times and is founded on Gerarde's account of ' The Goose tree. Barnacle tree, or the tree bearing Geese.' After explaining its shell-bearing quality, he goes on to say, ' which shells in time of maturity doe open, and out of them grow those little liuing things, which falling into the water do become fowles, which we call Barna- cles ; in the North of England, brant Geese ; and in Lancashire, tree Geese ; but the other that do fall upon the land, perish and come to nothing. Thus much by the writings of others, and also from the mouthes of people of those parts, which may very well accord with truth. 'But what our eies have seene, and handes have touched, we shall declare. There is a small Island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, 1 Trans. Llverp. Biol. Soc. xv. 2 zo. 2 Op. cit. vii. 211. « Loc. cit. p. 2 1 3 . 176
