CHAP. 2. 13. OP CLOUDS. 77 



rent of wind, at a time when large mountainous 

 cumulostrati and cumuli appear more stationary, 

 somewhat higher up, and when flimsy features 

 of cirrostratus, cirrocumulus, and cirrus are 

 visible in a region still more elevated. When 

 this Scud is abundant we may be sure the 

 imbriferous quality of the atmosphere remains, 

 and we may expect a return of the showers. 

 These fragments differ in general from the 

 flocky and nascent cumuli which feed nimbi 

 from below during Rain, in being of a darker 

 and more nimbiform consistency. I have been 

 at the top of the mountain Cader Idris when 

 they have passed below me through the valleys. 

 They then appeared like a dark purplish mist. 

 But sometimes whitish fleecy cumuli of similar 

 form sail along, and at others more compact 

 cumuli; there being almost all conceiveable 

 varieties. These detached clouds are called 

 sometimes by the common people Waterwag- 

 gons, from being observed to supply showers 

 and to indicate their fall. 



