18 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



and .belong to the same section of the family. They 

 have very much the appearance of spiders, for which, 

 indeed, they are often mistaken. 

 The first is Niptus hololeucus 

 (Fig. 6). It is a small beetle, 

 completely covered with a yellow- 

 ish silky down, and its resem- 

 blance to a spider is produced by 

 three peculiarities. A spider, 

 which, be it remembered, is not 

 an insect at all, but 'a member of 

 u 'TTTrrrrrr a the class Arachnida, has only two 

 y V apparent divisions to its body, 



FIG. 6.-Niptus hololeucus. the hindermost of which is usually 

 highly convex and rounded at the sides, and it has also 

 eight legs. Now, though Niptus has distinctly the usual 

 three divisions of an insect's body head, thorax, and 

 abdomen the first of these is so bent under the second 

 that, as in Ptinus, it cannot be seen from above; and, 

 in consequence, the body seems, like that of a spider, to 

 be composed of only two parts. The elytra are very 

 convex above, and much inflated and rounded at the 

 sides, and as the line of their junction is completely 

 obliterated, the abdomen acquires the globose and un- 

 divided form of that of a spider. Again, the antennae, 

 which are about equal in length to the legs, and, of 

 course, on account of the bending of the head, appear 

 to come from underneath as much as the legs themselves 

 do, make up, with the usual six legs, a number of ap- 

 pendages that may readily be taken for the eight legs 

 of a spider. The imitation is so complete, that, when 

 only casually seen, the beetle might easily deceive even 

 those who are perfectly familiar with the difference be- 

 tween an insect and a spider. When once one examines 



