I have watched this process in the California sea crayfish, and it is generally accomplished at night. The flesh of the animal appears to become very watery and soft at this time. Finally the animal bursts the shell and by a slow and convulsive effort drags the flesh from claws, eyes, swimmerets, and antennæ, and escapes through the upper portion of the division between the head and tail, and presto! we have two animals; one flabby and very nervous, the other the deserted shell, yet seemingly alive. The crayfish is very helpless now, and secretes itself for several days until the new skin hardens, when it appears in a freshly colored coat of yellow and black. XV. FROM BARNACLES TO LOBSTERS [Illustration: FIG. 135.--Goose barnacles.] In strolling along the shore one may often find pieces of wood washed in by the combing waves, which are covered with white and blue-tinted objects, resembling dates (Fig. 135). They have long, fleshy stems, and appear to have a number of plates or shells, and are by many considered shells. Other floating matter will be found covered with small white objects (Fig. 136), and many of the rocks alongshore are so completely encrusted by them that the surface of the rock is concealed. On the backs of whales are found similar objects, often three inches across and two inches high. These are barnacles, cousins of the crabs, which secrete multivalve shells and are anchored to various floating or submerged objects. They are crustaceans which are attached to the bottom by their antennæ. [Illustration: FIG. 136.--The barnacle: _A_, from above; _B_, section from the side.] If the shell of a barnacle is carefully observed, fluffy, feathery objects may be seen coming out with regular motion. These are the feet of the crustacean, which in the barnacles are modified into food catchers, grasping at the minute animals contained in the water. What are called goose barnacles have long stems, and the old writers considered them young geese which grew on trees and finally fell into the water. I have found a goose barnacle in the mouth of a large sunfish, so placed that the barnacle swung clear of the curious teeth of the fish. They are also found on the feathers of penguins in the South Pacific. Every floating timber or wreck at sea is covered with the curious, long-stemmed creatures. The barnacles deposit eggs, and the young are at first free swimming, but soon acquire a shell, seek the bottom, or some floating object, and become fixtures for life.