The last examination of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, when the candidates were placed in each class in Order of Merit and not in alphabetical order, was held in 1909. Last year was therefore the fiftieth anniversary of the end of a famous epoch. The University Calendar used annually to reproduce all the lists from 1747, the year when they were first printed, and they made fascinating reading, well known to mathematicians. Of course candidates were examined before that date, but full details have not been preserved. It was earlier called ‘The Senate House Examination’, and not before the start of the Classical Tripos in 1824 did the name gradually change.