SPIDERS AND BUTTERFLIES

I will never be absolutely sure, but I truly believe we had a black widow spider take up residence in our bedroom.

It never occurred to me that it could be a black widow except for my recounting the following story to Gwen, my Engineering Manager, about 10 years ago.

As I am a light sleeper, or perhaps even an insomniac, sometimes I would hear a very faint sound from near the bed, when all was quiet. If I moved even the slightest bit the sound would stop, only to start again after a few minutes of total stillness. I tried standing on the floor to listen. The sound would return as before, but only after several minutes. Try as I might, it was impossible to trace the direction, or source, of the sound.

I mentioned this scenario one day, at coffee break. Gwen said, "this could be dangerous. I heard of this happening to a woman. It turned out to be a black widow spider in her bedroom. She heard a sound but never knew the cause until she was bitten. The doctor told her she was lucky to be alive."

Now this was not news that I wanted to hear.

That evening I went to the library. A search gave the information I needed. It turns out that the black widow does indeed make a mating sound. It is the only spider known to do so. The book also said that the bite can be dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as we are led to believe. Few people die from it.

I searched the bed area for intruders but found none. I got out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the box spring, mattress, base boards and floor. The sound returned a night or two later. This time I put towels under the bedroom doors and got out the vacuum hose again. This time I redid the room from top to bottom. I even removed the cloth from the bottom of the box spring and vacuumed inside. (I was real careful not to remove the mattress tag that warns of prosecution for its removal. I did not want to go to jail any more than I wanted to be bitten.)

All has been quiet since; but I never did see a black widow or any other critter.

Sorry for not allowing myself to be bitten -- it would have been a more interesting story.

World-travel is part of the job at Jamesway Incubator Company of Cambridge. Poultry incubators are the main business and the customers are world-wide.

I recall one incidence in southern Brazil that has an interesting side.

It was necessary at this turkey incubation facility to shower at two separate quarantine areas before being allowed entry to the main hatchery. Showering on the way out was also essential. As it was also necessary to go out for lunch, this meant eight showers each day during the 10 day visit. One day we were all lathered up when I noticed a small butterfly on the wall of the shower. It appeared to have a perfect bust portrait of Christ on the back of the wings. I called the others over which invoked excited shouts in Portuguese -- "Christo -- Jesus" (pronounced "hey zooze") Now doesn't this invoke a strange image? -- four or five men, in their birthday suits, looking at a butterfly. The scene could have made a great Rockwell painting.

Strangely, no one in the group had seen this particular species before. I felt particularly honoured.

I have been unable to find anything that resembled this little critter in any of the lepidopteran registers at the Cambridge library.

Have a nice day.