r> OP CLOUDS. CHAP. 1. 2. 



on the clear blue sky: to this other, faint lines 

 of the same kind are added laterally; they in- 

 crease in size and length, and often serve as 

 stems from which numerous branches proceed 

 and become other cirri of the same kind. These 

 linear cirri will generally be found to be very 

 high in the air, the lines frequently extend 

 quite across the welkin, while their ends, being 

 lost in either horizon, appear, from a well known 

 optical deception, to converge into one point. 

 They do not always extend in parallel lines; 

 they frequently diverge, or increase obliquely 

 downwards. Sometimes transverse lines are 

 formed, which intersecting the others at right 

 angles, give to the sky the appearance of being 

 covered with a beautiful network. Of late, by 

 way of distinction, I have used certain specific 

 names for the various forms of each modification. 

 I have called this netlike feature the reticular 

 cirrus. Those which are local and detached, 

 and which ramify in many directions, giving 

 the idea of a distended lock of hair, may be de- 

 nominated comoid cirri. Sometimes numerous 

 little filaments appear like bundles of thread, 

 which I have called filiform cirri. In fail*, dry 

 weather, with light gales, obliquely descending 

 bands of fibrous texture are often seen, and fre- 



