11*2 
WILD BEES. 
May, 1889 . 
the triple diadem of the Breiddens. Geology can tell you 
how these mountains have assumed their form. Why, at one 
spot, does the Severn wind about in loop-shaped curves, while 
in another it cuts straight through a mighty wall of limestone ? 
Geology can answer your questions. North Shropshire is a 
plain diversified by a few low elevations, while South Shrop¬ 
shire rises into numerous mountain peaks and ridges. There 
are reasons for the differences, and geology can give them. 
But these are only a few of the problems which lie around us. 
The history of the humblest hill that rises above the Severn 
Valley opens up questions of profound interest. The very 
sand heap, from which we cart the materials for our garden 
soil, tells us of the time when the Wrekin stood as an island 
amidst the waters of an archipelago, and the ice-floes from 
the North scattered their stony burdens over what is now the 
plain of Shropshire. The red gravel with which we pave 
our walks in Wellington takes us back to an epoch incon¬ 
ceivably more remote, more ancient even than the period 
when the Archaean volcanoes of Shropshire poured forth their 
lavas, probably to the time when no plant or animal had 
come into being on the earth. Every stone in a wall, unless 
it be a brick or a piece of slag, has a history infinitely more 
ancient than that of Egypt or Babylonia ; every slate on our 
roofs takes us back almost to the advent of life on our globe. 
To the geologist, there is meaning in the very dust. Believe 
me that the study of the stones is not so difficult and dry as is 
commonly supposed. To associate an earnest enquiry into 
Nature with the less serious pleasures of our club meetings 
will give them purpose and dignity. To the lighter music of 
the Fauns and the Dryads let us add the lofty chords of 
Apollo’s lyre. Though the members of this club may 
meditate the sylvan muse “ sub tegmine fagi there is no 
reason why they should do it “ tenui avend.” 
WILD BEES.* 
BY R. C. L. PERKINS, 
JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
Bees constitute a portion of the very extensive order 
Hyvienoptera, and, together with the ruby wasps (Chrysidida), 
ants ( Heterogyna ), Fossores, and true wasps ( Vespida) , form 
that division which is termed the Aculeata. Thev themselves 
* Read before the Oxford Natural Historv Society, February 19th, 
1889. 
