HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 95 



the light and is rarely seen till some object is moved, when it 

 will dart toward shelter in a most agile fashion. At the 

 present time these insects are widespread in Europe and 

 North America, but when or how they became companions 

 of man remains rather doubtful. 



Certain powder-post beetles referred to previously as de- 

 structive to stored wood products, occasionally make their 

 presence in houses known in a very spectacular fashion 

 through the collapse of a chair or other article of furniture in 

 which they may have been present for a long time. Feeding 

 in thoroughly dried wood, successive generations of these 

 insects will thoroughly riddle the interior of wooden articles, 

 avoiding the surface layer, and thus giving no evidence of 

 their activities till the material literally crumbles into dust 

 when it becomes too weak to support the burdens imposed 

 upon it. The so-called * 'death- watch " is a related insect 

 whose deliberate, and audible gastronomic process is re- 

 sponsible for the intermittent "ticks" upon which so much 

 superstition has been based. 



A few insects and spiders are attracted to houses, not by 

 the human inhabitants, but by other domestic insects. These 

 are much misunderstood creatures whose presence is usually 

 incorrectly interpreted. Spiders are highly predatory, and 

 although their webs may be unsightly, they serve greatly to 

 reduce the numbers of flies. Other jumping-spiders, that do 

 not spin webs, are also adept at catching flies and exhibit no 

 habits that could render them other than pleasant com- 

 panions. 



Perhaps the most maligned visitors to our summer cot- 

 tages, are certain large hornets which construct the intricate 

 and wonderfully fashioned paper nests, so familiar to most of 

 us in our early youth as objects of awe and hatred. These 

 hornets (Fig. 42), feed their young with flies which they 

 capture for the purpose, and their errands frequently bring 

 them to our dwellings into which they occasionally enter. 

 Contrary to much human tradition they do not make use of 

 their powerful stings unless grossly annoyed and their peace- 



