On the books

Did you ever go into someone else's house (remember the days?) and feel like something was a little off? And then it hit you. Not a book in sight.  

But in a house where books are abundant, you feel safe and surrounded by words and facts and feelings and emotions, and that's why I like libraries. Living in Baltimore County, MD, is an advantage for bookworms such as I, because we have probably the finest library system in the nation right here (remember - they will reopen soon!)

It would feel awful to walk up to the doors of a library and find it closed, but there was good reason last week at the University of Michigan, where their library was shut down for two days - not because someone with the COVID-19 had been in there, but because some travelers from the Mediterranean were found roaming around the basement. 

The travelers were not humans, but three venomous spiders found down in the cellar.

The crawly trio were found at the Shapiro Undergraduate Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and instead of being given the royal welcome and campus tour, they were sent to spider expert and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Ann Danielson-Francois from the University of Michigan-Dearborn for identification.

It didn't take Danielson-Francois long at all to pick the critters out and name them as being Mediterranean recluse spiders, a species that likes to come home with travelers. They have been found in 22 states, but Danielson-Francois said it was the first time she had encountered any in Michigan.

She said that instead of coming in by hanging off someone's book bag or being dropped off by their parents, the spiders might have tunneled into the basement of the library.

Professor Danielson-Francois

Tunneling spiders.  The mind reels!

Professor Danielson-Francois said, yes, these guys are venomous, but they probably wouldn't bite someone in an open area such as a library.

Probably.

"They don't have a huge amount of venom, but they have enough to start necrosis, which is the eating away of the flesh," she told WJBK-TV.

She really didn't need to clarify that necrosis is better known as "tissue death." After all, how many of us have called in sick on a Monday citing "necrosis" as the reason?