> The life of man would be made extremely difficult if the bee disappeared.

Actually, he was referring to cats.

Humble-bees alone visit red clover, as other bees cannot reach the nectar. It has been suggested that moths may serve to fertilise the clovers ; but I doubt this in the case of the red clover, from their weight being apparently not sufficient to depress the wing-petals. Hence we may infer as highly probable that if the whole genus of humble-bees became.extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly dis appear. The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests ; and Mr. H. New man, who has long attended to the habits of humblebees, believes that " more than two-thirds of them are thus destroyed all over England." Now the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one knows, on the number of cats ; and Mr. Newman says, " Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice." Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district ! -- Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species

This was extended to include beef:

The safety of England depends on the number of cats she keeps. He proves his proposition thus: Without the aid of bumble-bees the red clover could not be fertilised. Bumble-bees make their nests on the ground, where they are the prey of mice. Cats destroy the mice and give the bees a chance to live. Hence he reasons, no cats, many mice; many mice, no bumble-bees; no bees, no clover; no clover, no cattle; no cattle, no beef; and without beef where would the Englishman be?—Prof. W. W. Cooke. American Bee Journal.

And further, to spinsters:

"the success of the British Empire was attributed to old maids as well since British soldiers were fed roast beef and cattle eat red clover, red clover is solely pollinated by bumble bees. The cats eat the mice who prey on the honey and old maids keep cats concluding that the continuation of the British Empire was thus dependent on its population of old maids." Based on Thomas Huxley's observations

PLB

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