a stone said to be formed in the gall-bladder of old cocks, to which the ancients ascribed many fabulous virtues. This is otherwise called Alektorius lapis, sometimes Alektorolithos, in English, the cock-stone. The more modern naturalists hold the alektorius lapis to be originally swallowed down, not generated in, the stomach and gizzard of cocks and capons. It is known that many of the fowl kind make a practice of swallowing pebbles, as it is supposed to be of service in the functions of trituration and digestion.