46 NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BELL ROCK. 



to our modern jerrybuilders. Octagonal outside, circular 

 within, the wall was composed of five courses of Craigleith 

 freestone, each course feathered and grooved, while each stone 

 dovetailed its entire depth into its neighbour. At each point 

 of the octagon holes were drilled from top to bottom of the 

 wall to receive the two inch iron bolts which secured the 

 heavy cast iron lantern to the parapet. It was necessary to 

 reduce the stones to fragments before hurling them into the 

 sea, in order to prevent them obstructing the boat tracks or 

 damaging the gratings. Between the outer and inner linings 

 of the copper dome a scrap of newspaper was found wrapped 

 round what appeared to be a file handle. The printed matter 

 was quite legible, and bore reference to an unfortunate episode, 

 happily long since relegated to the realms of oblivion, namely, 

 the investigation into the conduct of the then Princess of 

 Wales in 1806. In one of the ventilators which pierced the 

 parapet wall on a level with the balcony, but long since dis- 

 used, a perfectly desiccated specimen of a wren was found. 

 Attracted probably by the light while on a migratory journey, 

 it had evidently taken shelter in the ventilating tube just 

 prior to its being plugged up with a wad of tow, a material 

 which for many years has been superseded throughout the 

 service by cotton waste. 



The ping-pong craze has come our length, and in imitation 

 of other manlier sports a trophy has been instituted for 

 competition, the said trophy to become the property of the 

 holder after being won thirteen consecutive times. The trophy 

 takes the form of a handsome cup of silver, or, to be more 

 explicit, of a metal usually found in conjunction with silver, 

 and is quite Grecian in its simplicity of design. It is con- 

 sidered to be of foreign origin, and bears evidence of having 

 at one time been profusely chased and engraved. A beauti- 

 ful pastoral scene is depicted on the one side, while, on the 

 other, two foreign words are barely decipherable, namely, 

 " Lait Concentre." The trophy generally graces our tea table 

 for some time prior to the competition, and materially aids in 

 stimulating the nagging energies of the competitors. 



