  FOS spectra and FOC photometry of two centrally located, UV-bright spikes in
the elliptical galaxy NGC 4552 and the bulge-dominated early spiral NGC 2681,
are presented. These spectra reveal that such point-like UV sources detected by
means of HST within a relatively large fraction ~15% of bulges can be related
to radically different phenomena. While the UV unresolved emission in NGC 4552
represents a transient event likely induced by an accretion event onto a
supermassive black hole, the spike seen at the center of NGC 2681 is not
variable and it is stellar in nature.
