Why spiders love a bath
QUESTION
How long can a common house spider survive without food or water?
MOST spiders use a sit-and-wait strategy to catch prey. This may involve prolonged food deprivation due to the random nature of encounters between prey and predator. Starvation may also occur during winter.
Spiders respond to long-term fasting by reducing their metabolic rate by between 30 to 80%, depending on species and body size. The common house spider, Tegenaria domestica, can go without food for up to two months; the large wolf spider, Lycosa lenta, can survive for up to nine months without a meal.
Spiders can consume huge meals equivalent to their own size because they are the only creatures that digest their food outside their bodies.
After their prey is captured, spiders expel digestive enzymes from their intestinal tract on to the victim. The enzymes break down body tissue and, after a few seconds, the spider sucks up this pre-digested liquid.
The critical requirement for house spiders is moisture. Central heating means houses can get very dry during the winter. Spiders not only need moisture for bodily functions, but to help them moult. If it is too dry, a spider can have problems growing.
They will need to drink a couple of times a week – but only require a droplet of water. This explains why they so often find their way into the sink or bath.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION
Is there a difference in meaning between the words relic and relict?
RELIC and relict are partial synonyms. A relic is something that has survived or been kept from the past, especially something interesting or valuable. The poet Byron said: ‘Fair Greece! Sad relic of departed worth!’
Relict can be used in the same sense, especially in the plural, for example: ‘The walls of the chairman’s study were decorated with relicts of yesteryear.’
Its chief use, however, is as a scientific term for a remnant of some earlier species of natural formation: ‘Some rare plants are often relicts that have survived in a favourable ecological environment.’
Adrian Symms, Lincoln. I AM chairman of a local history research group and we examine hundreds of old documents such as indentures (a document of sale or transfer) and wills and testaments. I have seen many a will with this form of opening line: ‘I, Mary Smith, of The Mansion in the parish of Newtown in the County of Monmouth, relict of John Smith of The Mansion in the parish of Newtown in the County of Monmouth, do make and declare this my Last Will and Testament . . .’
Here relict means widow and is commonly used in old legal documents and written accounts such as newspapers. The word derives from the Latin verb relinquere, meaning to leave behind.
A relic is a religious object, usually part of the body of a dead saint or person revered by the Church, which may be kept in an urn or alcove behind a glass screen. It is treated as an object of reverence and worship by visitors and pilgrims.
The word has been adopted to describe an artefact, custom or belief from an ancient civilisation. It derives from the French relique, meaning a remnant.
Lyn Pask, Monmouthshire.
QUESTION
Are there any narrow gauge railways in Ireland?
IRELAND once had extensive narrow gauge railway systems and some of them have been brought back to life on small sections of track.
The biggest of the old narrowgauge railway systems was in Co. Donegal, where the railways once extended to around 360 kilometres; the last of that system closed down at the end of the 1950s. But a 4.5km long section of track on the line that once ran to Glenties in west Co. Donegal has been revived in recent years as the Fintown railway.
People can go for trips on a railcar on this railway, which is very scenic, set beside Lough Finn. The late playwright, Brian Friel, who had a close connection with this railway restoration project, once said that the new section of track was in a setting as striking as anything that would be found in Switzerland or Minnesota. This railway has a three feet gauge, which was the gauge used on narrow gauge railways in Ireland.
Co. Donegal has another railway, but it’s only 15” gauge. It’s at Oakfield Park, near Raphoe in the east of the county. The track extends for over four kilometres and both steam and diesel engines are used. ‘Santa Express’ trips on this train are planned for December.
Also in the north-west, the Cavan and Leitrim Railway was another renowned narrow gauge system; long after it closed over a half a century ago, a small section of track was reopened at Dromod, and for some years, steam train excursions were operated. But that’s no longer the case.
The old Co. Clare railway was also narrow gauge. Its timekeeping was notoriously unreliable, mocked by Percy French in one of his songs. It too is long gone, but in 2011, work began on relaying the track on a section of the old track bed between Moyasta Junction and Kilkee. Since then, train excursions have started. The aim is to restore narrow gauge railway services between Kilkee and Kilrush.
In Co. Waterford, a section of the old railway line between Waterford City and Dungarvan has been revived in the Kilmeaden area, where the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway runs popular excursions. The line in its present format is narrow gauge.
There’s also a narrow-gauge railway in operation at Stradbally Hall, the Woodland Railway, which operates on a short stretch of narrow gauge line. Stradbally Hall is , of course, noted for hosting the Electric Picnic festival.
A new narrow-gauge railway opened in 2015 at Tayto Park in Co. Meath; it runs on a two-foot wide track.
The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway was a three-foot gauge line that ran for eight kilometres through boglands. It closed in 2008 after more than a decade in operation.
A surprising number have been brought back to life, at least in small sections, and the Tayto Park railway is a brand-new creation.
M. Walsh, Waterford.