52 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



concave. This has the effect of forming something 

 like a waist, and of imparting an air of neatness and 

 refinement, so to speak ; and, therefore, even Sphodrus, 

 though so large, can certainly not be considered either 

 coarse or clumsy. 



A formidable pair of jaws, with which the insects can 

 give an unpleasant nip, if incautiously seized, project 

 in front of the head like a pair of shears. The pair of 

 small jointed appendages, like two minute antennae, by 

 the side of these, are maxillary palpi, or feelers, attached 

 to the fnaxillse or secondary jaws, which underlie the 

 mandibles, or true biting-jaws. The insects lurk under 

 stones and in dark corners, and if suddenly disturbed 

 in their hiding-places, make the most frantic efforts 

 to recover their shelter. They can always find plenty 

 of food in the shape of the other cellar Coleoptera, to 

 which we have already referred, and many other kinds 

 of insects that frequent such situations. 



Besides the more legitimate coleopterous inhabitants 

 of our houses, which we have described in the preceding 

 pages, there are, of course, plenty of stray visitors that 

 may at any time turn up. On a fine summer day, 

 windows into which the. sun is shining brightly often 

 have a considerable insect population, amongst which 

 many beetles may be found, especially such as ladybirds 

 and tiny rove-beetles. Sometimes great rarities may 

 be met with in this way. Thus the Rev. W. W. Fowler 

 records having taken off a lodging-house window at 

 Hunstanton, two minute beetles which had scarcely 

 ever been met with in Britain before, beetles which 

 were not household species at all, but simply casual 

 visitors which had flown in and been unable to find 

 their way out again. The corridors of the Crystal 

 Palace, similarly, often yield hosts of tiny beetles ; and 



