554 Mr. W. P. Pycraft on the 



rather than backwards. Furthermore, while in the Gannet 

 this foramen looks directly backwards, and is placed at 

 right angles to the basicranial axis, in the Oyster-catcher it 

 forms an obtuse angle with this axis. But more striking 

 still is the change in the relative position of the brain. In 

 the Gannet the cerebrum and cerebellum lie one in front 

 of the other in a plane parallel with the basicranial axis, 

 but in the Oyster-catcher the brain-cavity has, as it were, 

 rotated through a large segment of a circle, whereby the 

 long axis of the cerebrum has come to be almost at right 

 angles to the long axis of the skull ! 



In the Snipe all these characters are still further exag- 

 geratedj so that now the external aperture of the ear has 

 come to lie just caudad of the middle of the inferior margin 

 of the orbit, while the quadrate is now brought under the 

 very middle of the orbital floor, though its articular surface 

 lies considerably caudad of this area. 



The Woodcock [Scolopax) forms the culminating point of 

 all these peculiarities, which here attain their maximum 

 development. The skull, in longitudinal section, is almost 

 circular, while the orientation of the cranium (brain-case), 

 through the excessive shortening of the basicranial axis to 

 be described presently, has become profoundly changed. 

 Thereby the long axis of the brain no longer lies in the same 

 horizontal plane as the basicranial axis — that is to say, it no 

 longer lies parallel with this, but forms therewith a right 

 angle (text-fig. 4, p. 555). A line drawn vertically through 

 the middle of the auditory meatus, at right angles to the long 

 axis of the cranium, passes through the posterior third of 

 the orbit, while if this line be drawn at right angles to the 

 long axis of the beak it will pass through the anterior 

 margin of the orbit, which would be in front of a similar 

 vertical line passing through the periphery of the iris (text- 

 fig. 4). Thus, then, if the head of a recently-killed Wood- 

 cock be examined, the aperture of the ear will appear in a 

 quite abnormal position, for if a line be drawn at right 

 angles to the long axis of the beak, and passing through 

 the periphery of the anterior margin of the exposed surface 



