in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of aptera. They have eight feet, two eyes on the top of the head placed very near each other, and other two on the sides of the head; the feelers resemble legs, and the belly is round. There are nine species.

Mr Barbut only describes one species, viz. the phalangium opilis of Linnæus. His description is as follows: "Its body is roundish, of a dulky brown on the back, with a dusky spot of a rhomboidal figure near the middle of it. The belly is whitish; the legs are extremely long and slender. On the back part of the head there stands a little eminence, which has on it a kind of double crest, formed as it were of a number of minute spines; the eyes are small and black, and are two in number. It is commonly called the shepherd spider."

"This species of spider multiplies singularly. They are great spinners. In autumn the fluff is quite covered with the threads of these spiders, by means of which they travel with ease, and enthrone their prey. However, those threads are thought rather to be the produce of a species of tick called autumnal-weaver. A small degree of attention discovers an amazing multitude of those ticks almost imperceptible, and that is their work. The threads, when united, appear of a beautiful white, wave about in the air, and are known in the country by the name of virgin's threads. Some naturalists think, that those threads, floating in the air, serve the insect as sails to waft it through the air, and as a net to entrap insects on the wing; for remnants of prey, say they, are discoverable in them. As to those parcels in which nothing is seen, they are only essays rejected by those travelling insects. The analogy between the phalangium and the owls, and the facility Phalangosis with which it parts with its legs to save the rest of the body, has raised a presumption that its legs might grow again, as do those of crabs and lobsters. Country people have an opportunity to endeavour at ascertaining the truth of these observations."