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 Alectorius lapis, sometimes Alectorolithos, in English the cock-stone. The more modern naturalists hold the alectorius lapis to be originally swallowed down, not generated in, the stomach and gizzards of cocks and capons. It is known that many of the fowl kind make a practice of swallowing pebbles, which are supposed to be of service in the business of trituration and digestion.