514 THE GANNET 



Save in the relative lengths of the toes, Mr. Pycraft 

 does not consider the skeleton of a Gannet's foot to pre- 

 sent any very remarkable characters, but he has obliged 

 me with the following remarks : " One cannot help 

 being puzzled as to the significance of the all-embracing 

 web which binds the toes one to another even including 

 the hallux. This is one of those cases known among 

 evolutionists as ' hypertely ' — where modification of 

 structure seems to have gone beyond the requirements. 

 The Cormorant and the Darter, one might have supposed, 

 would derive benefit from this comprehensive webbing ; 

 but if it really conferred any special benefit one would 

 expect to find the same modification in the case, at 

 least, of the Diving Ducks, Divers and Grebes, and Diving 

 Petrels for example. Yet in these it is wanting ; and 

 further, it must not be forgotten that the Water-hen is 

 an expert swimmer and diver, yet possesses no interdigital 

 webs at all ' " 



All four toes in the Gannet are united in a single 

 web, as shown in the cut (p. 491), yet only three of 

 them project forwards, for the first toe, which corres- 

 ponds to the hallux and consists of two phalanges, has 

 a sideways direction. This led Beddard and Finn to 

 suppose that the original form of the foot in the Stega- 

 nopodes was as it is now in the Passeres [see " Structure 



