Barnacle Goose Myth

barnacle goose myth 是一个广为流传的历史误解，关于 barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) 和 brant goose (Branta bernicla) 的繁殖习性。[1] 其中一种说法是，这些鹅完全成型地从 goose barnacles (Cirripedia) 中诞生。[2] 还有其他关于 barnacle goose 如何从鸟蛋以外的物质中出现和生长的神话。

"barnacle" 一词的词源表明它源于拉丁语、古英语和法语。[3] 在基督教之前的书籍和手稿中很少有提及——一些是罗马或希腊的。这个神话进入现代的主要载体是修道院手稿，尤其是 bestiary（动物寓言集）。[4]

这个神话之所以长期流行，是因为早期对鹅的迁徙模式一无所知。早期中世纪对生物本质的讨论通常基于神话或对现在已知的现象（如 bird migration）的真实无知。直到 19 世纪末，鸟类迁徙研究才表明，这些鹅向北迁徙到格陵兰或斯堪的纳维亚北部筑巢和繁殖。[5][6]

Early references

早期但并非最早提及 barnacle goose myth 的例子，是在 11 世纪的 Exeter Book 的谜语中。[7] 谜语编号 10 如下：

| 古英语 | 英文翻译 | | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Neb wæs min on nearwe, ond ic neoþan wætre, flode underflowen, firgenstreamum swiþe besuncen, ond on sunde awox ufan yþum þeaht, anum getenge liþendum wuda lice mine. Hæfde feorh cwico, þa ic of fæðmum cwom brimes ond beames on blacum hrægle; sume wæron hwite hyrste mine, þa mec lifgende lyft upp ahof, wind of wæge, siþþan wide bær ofer seolhbaþo. Saga hwæt ic hatte. | My nose was in a tight spot, and I beneath the water, underflowed by the flood, sunk deep into the ocean-waves, and in the sea grew covered with waves from above, my body touching a floating piece of wood. I had living spirit, when I came out of the embrace of water and wood in a black garment, some of my trappings were white, then the air lifted me, living, up, wind from the water, then carried me far over the seal's bath. Say what I am called. |

预期的答案是“The Barnacle Goose”（海鹅）。[8]

在 Ray Lankester 的 Diversions of a Naturalist (1917) 中，[9] 有证据表明，由于 Max Muller (1868),[10] 以及法国动物学家 Frederic Houssay,[11] George Perrot 和 Charles Chipiez.[12] 的著作，引发了一场严肃的文学辩论。 辩论的焦点是 barnacle goose myth 是否可能为公元前 1600-1100 年左右的早期迈锡尼定居者所知。

Lankester 声称，经常在迈锡尼陶器上看到的图画是当代艺术家对_典型鹅_特征的 诠释。 Lankester 指出 barnacle geese 的表现方式，写道解决方案是：

The Mykenæan population of the islands of Cyprus and Crete, in the period 800 to 1000 years before Christ, were great makers of pottery, and painted large earthenware basins and vases with a variety of decorative representations of marine life, of fishes, butterflies, birds, and trees. … Others have been figured by the well-known archaeologists, … M. Perrot consulted M. Houssay, in his capacity of zoologist, in regard to these Mykenæan drawings, which bear … the evidence of having been designed after nature by one who knew the things in life, although they are not slavishly "copied" from nature…

他接着暗示“显然，目的是操纵叶子或水果的图画，使其类似于鹅的图画，而鹅的图画又被修改，以强调或理想化其与鹅颈藤壶的相似之处”。

他总结说，迈锡尼陶器上的鸟类（尤其是鹅）的图画表明，公元前一千年，希腊岛屿上的定居者就知道 barnacle goose myth。 他总结了他的观察如下：

… artists loved to exercise a little fancy and ingenuity. By gradual reduction in the number and size of outstanding parts—a common rule in the artistic "schematising" or "conventional simplification" of natural form—they converted the octopus and the argonaut, with their eight arms, into a bull's head with a pair of spiral horns … In the same spirit it seems that they observed and drew the barnacle floating on timber or thrown up after a storm on their shores. They detected a resemblance in the marking of its shells to the plumage of a goose, whilst in the curvature of its stalk they saw a resemblance to the long neck of the bird. … They brought the barnacle and the goose together, not guided thereto by any pre-existing legend, but by a simple and not uncommon artistic desire to follow up a superficial suggestion of similarity and to conceive of intermediate connecting forms…

没有证据支持他在希腊或罗马民间传说中的说法。 Aristotle 、 Herodotus 或 Pliny the Elder 都没有明确提及这个神话。 Buckeridge 2011 对 Edward Heron-Allen (1928) 的说法表示怀疑，如下所示：

… although Heron-Allen spent some time reviewing images of birds and other animals on Mycenaean pottery (circa 1600–1100 BCE), his deductions that they demonstrate that the Mycenaeans were aware of any biological relationship between geese and barnacles are inconclusive. These images are perhaps better interpreted as stylised representations of animals and plants that suited the designer of the pottery …[13]

Myth in ancient Rome

许多作家引用 Pliny the Elder 的 Naturalis Historiae 作为公元一世纪早期罗马关于这个神话的来源。[14] 这种说法本身就是一个神话。[15] Pliny the Elder 没有讨论 barnacle goose myth。 Pliny 的 Naturalis Historiae 是一部早期的百科全书，扩展了他对物理和自然世界的看法。 虽然他广泛提及“鹅”，例如鹅油，但他在关于海洋动物和鸟类的章节中没有提及 Barnacle Geese 及其起源。[16]

Naturalis Historiae 的第一个印刷版本出现在 15 世纪 80 年代后期。 1480 年版本的 Naturalis Historiae 由 Parma 在意大利北部的 Andreas Portilla 印刷。 这本书的副本由 Hector Boece 在他撰写关于 barnacle goose myth 的描述时拥有。[17] 无法确定 Hector Boece 是否受到了 Pliny 的_影响_。 几乎可以肯定的是，Boece 在 Collège de Montaigu 在 University Paris 与 Erasmus 一起工作时以及在 University of St Andrews 学习时就已经了解了这个神话。 Boece 最有可能受到 Topographia Hibernica 的影响，该书由 Gerald of Wales 在 1188 年左右编纂。

Medieval bestiary

在早期中世纪时期，传播 barnacle goose myth 最重要的方式是通过 bestiaries（动物寓言集）。 动物寓言集描述了一种真实的或虚构的野兽，并使用该描述作为寓言教学的基础。[18] 由于这一时期宗教气氛浓厚，修道院、教堂、大学和皇室获得了动物寓言集的手稿版本并对其进行复制，重复并构建关于动物的道德故事。 使用了真实和神话的动物故事。 由于人们的生存依赖于野生和家养动物，他们对周围的世界及其动物有着明显的兴趣。 犹太人和基督徒都认为希伯来圣经的大部分内容是神圣的，其中包含许多关于动物的记载，[19] 包括来自希腊 Physiologus 的文本。[20]

动物寓言集不是动物或动物学教科书，而是一部宗教文本。 它也是神职人员、修道院作家和贵族所知和理解的世界的描述。 动物寓言集为早期的神话故事赋予了权威。

Emperor Frederick II and other reported eyewitnesses

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250) 是一位鸟类学家和博学的学者，他最令人难忘的是他的开创性著作 De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (On the Art of Hunting With Birds)。 这本书大约在 1241 年用拉丁文写成。[21] Frederick 被认为他的鸟类观察是基于个人经验。[22] 因此，他对 Gerald of Wales 传播的 barnacle goose myth 持怀疑态度。 在其中，Gerald of Wales（见下文）声称：

I have often seen with my own eyes more than a thousand minute embryos of birds of this species on the seashore, hanging from one piece of timber, covered with shells, and, already formed.

Frederick 不仅声称看到了胚胎，而且还收集 empirical evidence 以支持他对这个神话的驳斥。[23] 在 De Arte... 的一段短文中，Frederick II 写道：

There is also a small species known as the barnacle goose arrayed in motly plumage – it has in certain parts white and others black circular markings of whose haunts we have no certain knowledge. There is however a curious popular tradition that they spring from dead trees. It is said that in the far north old ships are found in whose rotting hulls a worm is born that develops into the barnacle goose. This goose hangs from dead wood by its beak until it is old and strong enough to fly. We have made prolonged research into the origin and truth of this legend and even sent special envoys to the north with order to bring back specimens of these mythical timbers for our inspection. When we examined them we did observe shell-like formations clinging to the rotten wood, but these bore no resemblance to any avian body. We therefor doubt the truth of this legend in the absence of corroborative evidence. In our opinion this superstition arose from the fact that barnacle geese breed in such remote latitudes that men in ignorance of their real nesting places invented this explanation.[24]

据称，Gerald of Wales[25] 在被 medieval bestiaries 引用之前，为该神话的传播奠定了基础。 他并不是第一个用拉丁语记录关于幼年 barnacle geese 从腐烂的木头通过 goose-necked barnacle (Cirripedia) 到刚孵化的鹅的自发产生或转变的民间故事或神话的人。 1177 年，未来的英国国王 John（Richard the Lionheart 的弟弟）被任命为 Lord of Ireland，英国的统治在这些领土上确立。 作为英格兰国王 Henry II 的皇家文员和牧师，Gerald of Wales 在 1183 年至 1186 年间陪同 Prince John 前往爱尔兰探险。 返回后，他在 1187 年或 1188 年出版了一份手稿，描述了新的爱尔兰土地，名为 Topographia Hibernica。 他在 Topographia Hibernica 中对爱尔兰的看法 [26] 包括以下段落：

… there are many birds called barnacles (bernacae) … nature produces them in a marvellous way for they are born at first in gum-like form from fir-wood adrift in the sea. Then they cling by their beaks like sea-wood, sticking to wood, enclosed in a shell-fish shells for freer development … thus in the process of time dressed in a firm clothing of feathers, they either fall into the waters or fly off into freedom of the air. They receive food and increase from a woody and watery juice… on many occasions I have seen them with my own eyes, more than a thousand of these tiny little bodies, hanging from a piece of wood on the sea-shore when enclosed in their shells and fully formed. Eggs are not produced from the copulation of these birds as is usual, no bird ever incubates an egg for their production … in no corner of the earth have they been seen to give themselves up (to) lust or build a nest … hence in some parts of Ireland bishops and men of religion make no scruple of eating these birds on fasting days as not being flesh because they are not born of flesh.[27][28]

Influence on church doctrine

Fourth Council of the Lateran 由 Pope Innocent III 于 1213 年 4 月 19 日发出教皇诏书 "Vineam Domini Sabaoth " 召集。 该委员会在 Rome 的 Lateran Palace 举行。[29] 一些作家提到了一项法令，该法令将 barnacle goose 区分为 "bird", 和由教皇 Innocent III 在该委员会上提出的 "fish "。

该决定对于西方天主教会的信徒来说非常重要，尤其是在四旬斋期间（有禁食日），当时信徒被禁止食用“肉”——例如鸟类。 Lankester (1915) [30] 重复了这个故事，这个故事也出现在 Muller (1871 v.2) 中，[31] 声称法国、爱尔兰和英国的牧师被指示停止允许在四旬斋期间食用 Barnacle Geese，因为它是“鱼”。 似乎，人们已经接受了允许食用 Barnacle Geese 的做法，而食用其他形式的肉类，例如鸭子则不允许。 鉴于 barnacle goose 的迁徙模式，在爱尔兰、苏格兰和法国西海岸生活的人们会在欧洲各地看到许多鹅。 方便的是，这些鸟类被视为其他形式的“肉类”（例如野鸭）的替代品。 因此，满足了四旬斋期间禁食日的要求之一。 详细阐述这一点，Lankester (1915) 写道：

… it had become accepted that the use [of the Barnacle Goose] as food on the fast-days of the Church was accepted … and as a result Pope Innocent III … to whom the matter was referred … considered it necessary in 1215 to prohibit the eating of barnacle geese in Lent, since although he admitted that they are not generated in the ordinary way, he maintained … that they live and feed like ducks, and cannot (therefore) be regarded as differing in nature from other birds … (such as ducks)

重要的是，Muller (1871, v.2) 对 Lateran 禁止的来源提出异议。 （参见下面的 van der Lugt (2000)）他说，这可能是与 Vincentius Bellovacensis (Vincent of Beauvais 1190 – 1264) 在 Lateran Council 之后不久的写作混淆了。 他说

…in the thirteenth century the legend [regarding Barnacle Geese] spread over Europe. Vincentius Bellovacensis … in his Speculum Naturae xvuu. 40 … states that Pope Innocent III, at the General Lateran Council, 1215, had to prohibit the eating of Barnacle Geese during lent …

Beauvais 的 Speculum Naturale,[32] 包含 32 本书，包含 3700 多个章节，涉及各种主题； 包括宇宙学、物理学、植物学和动物学。 在第 XVII 章中，Beauvais 描述了关于 Barnacle Geese 如何产生的各种理论。 他的结论是 "Innocentius papa tertius in Lateranensi Consillio generali hoc ultra fieri vetuit"。 也就是说，教皇禁止食用 Barnacle Geese 的做法。 然而，第四次 Lateran Council 的记录中没有任何决定提及此类禁令。[33]

Van der Lugt (2000) [34] 提供了最有理性和最详细的案例，反对有关 Lateran Council 禁止在四旬斋期间食用 barnacle goose 的说法。 他认为，虽然在 12 世纪末和 13 世纪初，教会法学家之间肯定有一场漫长的辩论，涉及四旬斋期间信徒可以食用什么，但这与 barnacle goose 无关。[35][36] 最后，在 Lateran Council 期间，Gervase of Tilbury (卒于 1220 年) 和 Alexander Neckam (卒于 1217 年) 等学者经常提到关于自然世界的神话或民间传说。 Neckam 写了一种名为 "bernekke" 的鸟。[37][38] Gervase of Tilbury 或 Alexander Neckham 都没有提及教皇 Innocent III 的禁令。

Renaissance Era testimonies

1435 年，Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus （后来的 Pope Pius II）[39] 前往苏格兰，鼓励 James I of Scotland 协助法国参加 Hundred Years War。 他花了几个月的时间在英国各地旅行，并将这些旅行记录在他的书“de Europa”中。 这本书的一小部分专门介绍苏格兰和爱尔兰。 他将 James 描述为“一个因肥胖大腹而疲惫不堪的病态之人”。 他注意到苏格兰寒冷的不适宜居住的气候和“半裸的穷人在教堂外乞讨（并且）在收到石头作为施舍后高兴地离开了”。[40]

他继续说道，记录了以下故事：

… I / We … heard that in Scotland there was once a tree growing on the bank of a river which produced fruits shaped like ducks.[41][42] "When these were nearly ripe, they dropped down of their own accord, some onto the earth, and some into the water. Those that landed on the earth rotted away, but those that sank into the water instantly came to life, swam out from below the water, and immediately flew into the air, equipped with feathers and wings. When I eagerly investigated this matter, I learned that miracles always recede further into the distance and that the famous tree was to be found not in Scotland but in the Orkney islands …

据信，Pope Pius II 的这个故事是苏格兰关于 Barnacle Geese myth 的第一个记录。[43][44][45]

Sir John Mandeville (fl. 1357–1372) 与 Barnacle Geese myth 以及一个关于棉花的类似神话有关，该神话被用来展示挂在树上的绵羊。[46] 他的书通常被称为 The Travels of Sir John Mandeville。 这本书最初在 1357 年至 1371 年间发行。 最早幸存的文本是法语。 虽然这本书是真实的，但人们普遍认为“Sir John Mandeville”本人不是。 de Melville 可能是法国人，名叫 Jehan à la Barbe。[47]

这本书经常被提及与 barnacle goose myth 有关。[13] 在从法语翻译过来的版本中，作者（“John de Mandeville”）写道：

… of the Countries and Isles that be beyond the Land of Cathay; and of the fruits there; and of twenty-two kings enclosed within the mountains … wherefore I say you, in passing by the land of Cathay toward the high (of) Ind(ia) … there groweth a manner of fruit, as though it were gourds. And when they be ripe, men cut them a-two, and men find within a little beast, in flesh, in bone, and blood, as though it were a little lamb without wool.[48] … and men eat both the fruit and the beast. And that is a great marvel. Of that fruit I have eaten, although it were wonderful, … I told them of … the Bernakes. (Barnacle Geese) For I told them that in our country were trees that bear a fruit that become birds flying, and those that fell in the water live, and they that fall on the earth die anon …[49]

The 16th century and Hector Boece

大约在 Pope Pius II 之后 75 年，Hector Boece[50] 在他的 "Scotorum Historiae a Prima Gentis Origine "[51] 中，通过讲述他与朋友和同事 Canon Alexander Galloway[52] 的一次讨论，进一步证实了这个故事，当时他正在为 William Elphinstone 寻找苏格兰圣徒的故事。[53] 如果这件事发生了，那一定是在 1506-1520 年左右。 在叙述中，Boece 允许 Galloway 提供关于 barnacle geese 故事的 两种 对比鲜明的描述。[54] Boece 记录：[55]

… It remains for me (Boece) to discuss those geese commonly called clacks, (claiks) [56] which are commonly but wrongly imagined to be born on trees in these islands, on the basis of what I have learned from my diligent investigation of this thing. … I will not hesitate to describe something I myself witnessed seven years ago… Alexander Galloway, parson of Kinkell, who, besides being a man of outstanding probity, is possessed of an unmatched zeal for studying wonders… When he was pulling up some driftwood and saw that seashells were clinging to it from one end to the other, he was surprised by the unusual nature of the thing, and, out of a zeal to understand it, opened them up, whereupon he was more amazed than ever, for within them he discovered, not sea creatures, but rather birds, of a size similar to the shells that contained them … small shells contained birds of a proportionately small size… So, he quickly ran to me, whom he knew to be gripped with a great curiosity for investigating suchlike matters and revealed the entire thing to me…

Boece 会将这些鹅称为 Claik Geese 或 Clack Geese，有时也称为 Clag-geese。[57] 这个神话的悠久历史以及缺乏关于 bird migration 的经验证据，导致关于 Barnacle Geese 繁殖习性的其他错误描述，直到 20 世纪仍然很常见。[50][58]

Generall Historie of Plantes (1597)

1597 年，John Gerard 发表了他的 Herbal 或 Generall Historie of Plantes。 他在文本中提到了 "..... the Goose tree, Barnakle tree, or the tree bearing Geese....(p. 1391) "。 他为这个神话提供了一些解释，以及他的信念 - 其中一个开始：

… there are founde in the north parts of Scotland and the islands adjacent, called Orchades, certaine trees, of a white colour, tending to russet, wherein are contained little living creatures; which shels in time of maturitie doe open; and out of them grow those living things; which falling into the water doe become foules, whom we call Barnakles; 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 writing of others and also from the mouths of people of those parts which may very well accord with truth…

他的插图显示了从“花蕾”中出现的类似鸟类的生物和在海上游泳的鸟类。

大约在 John Bellenden 发表 Boece 的 Historia Gentis Scotorum 的苏格兰语版本（作为 Croniklis of Scotland ）大约 25 年前，Matthias de l'Obel 发表了 Plantarum seu stirpium historia。 （在左边，上面）在这本书中，他用半页报告来对待这个神话，并写道，神话中的鹅发现 "duntaxat in scotia aut orcadibus maris" （“仅在苏格兰和奥克尼海”）。 该插图显示了鸟类在不明“鹅颈藤壶树”周围和下方的大海中游泳。 正是这张插图似乎影响了 Gerard。 在 19 世纪后期，Henry Lee (naturalist) 声称 Gerard 确实使用了 de l'Obel 的插图。[59] 虽然 Gerard 的树和花蕾与 de l'Obel 的插图非常相似，但不能确定 Gerard 是否使用了 de l'Obel 的木刻插图。 另一张插图（上图中）由 Ulisse Aldrovandi 绘制，也显示出与 de L'Obel 和 Gerard 的插图相似之处。 在这种情况下，树有叶子。

Carl von Linné

瑞典分类学家 Carl von Linné (Carl Linnaeus) 知道这个神话。[60] 他在他的分类中命名了一个属 Lepas ； 包括两个瑞典物种，Lepas anatifera (1758) 和 Lepas anserifera (1767)。 他出版了几个关于他的 Systema Naturae 的版本和版本，其中提到了 barnacle goose myth。 除了他的主要分类之外，他还包括一个附录 Animalia Paradoxa，即矛盾或反常的动物。[61] 他的 [''Animal