On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:52:27 GMT, "Anne Lurie"
wrote:

{{{Jo}}}

I recall meeting a woman (20 years ago, maybe) who said that the only time
being very obese was a good thing was because it probably saved her life
when she was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider. [I may be wrong about the
particular spider, but the woman is real, and she did tell me that body
mass/venom ration worked in her favor.]

I was bitten by at least a dozen of them in my early 20's. At that
time, I weighed about 105 pounds and was sick as a dog for about two
weeks. The dr quit counting bites when he reached 12, said I'd slept
in a nest of them. What happened was that my Grandma had transplanted
them from Las Vegas to the upper peninsula of Michigan. He said that
in the colder climate their venom couldn't get as toxic as it does in
hot climates. Otherwise, I'd have been even sicker.