210 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



pastures flowers of most vivid hue appear ; every bank 

 is carpeted with soft moss and from every nook the 

 varied ferns hang down their graceful fronds. Thick 

 clouds collect about the dripping trees and spread over 

 hill and valley in their strange inconstant shapes. It 

 is often a remarkable siijht to look down from a moun- 

 tain ridge on to the fleecy clouds that congregate 

 below. We watch a thick mass of cumulus as it 

 surges up the valley. It strikes against an opposing 

 ridge and, like a sea breaking on the rocks, it pours 

 down over the mountain side. Here the ascending 

 currents of hot air oppose it ; they drive it again to 

 the higher elevations ; they roll it back upon the ridge. 

 The visible vapour again pours down. Conflict follows 

 upon conflict ; the broken cumuli form and reform, 

 scatter again over the sky, separate into ragged frag- 

 ments of thin dissipating wisps. In varied forms they 

 float about the valley, now thickening, now condensing, 

 and always in a state of evanescent change. Some- 

 times they obscure the hillside in a thin veil of 

 translucent mist ; at other times they envelop it in 

 a dense white mass that hides every feature from our 

 view. Then, again, they may burst like a tempest on 

 the cliffs or ascend through the air in a pillar of vapour 

 like the smoke from a forest fire. 



At such a time as this the Cicada is heard on every 

 side. Its shrill vibrating note resounds through the 

 moist woods. At times all is silent ; then a single 

 sound rings out from a point high up upon a tree ; a 

 second soon adds to the music ; a host of others then 

 join the chorus, until the whole forest trembles with 

 the noise. 



The cicadas belong to the Homoptera, a suborder 



