Why spiders love a bath
QUESTION How long can a 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 per cent, 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 onto 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, Blackwood, Monmouthshire.
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