1908] Thymus Serpyllum. 139 



lower and denser parts of the atmosphere we can understand 

 why stars only sparkle at a low altitude, not much above 30° above 

 the horizon, or about a third of the elevation to the zenith or 

 point overhead. While the twinkling or scintillation is greatest 

 too, near the horizon, and diminishes as the stars get higher and 

 higher, it is not wholly absent at or near the zenith, as is the case 

 with sparkling. 



THE OCCURRENCE OF THYMUS SERPYLLUM AT 



RICHMOND, QUE. 



By J. C. Sutherland, B.A. 



In August of this year (1908) Mr. G. H. Pierce, C.E.. of 

 Beechmore Farm, Richmond, brought me a flower specimen 

 which was entirely new to me. As it was, however, plainly a 

 Labiate, I turned to Gray's Manual to identify it. It seemed to 

 answer the description of Thymus Serpyllum, but the given range 

 of this species (E. Mass. to Penn.) made the determination 

 doubtful. I therefore forwarded it to Dr. James Fletcher, stating 

 that the nearest I could make of it was that it was a thyme or a 

 savorv. He replied at once that it was the Wild Thyme of 

 England, Thymus Serpyllum, and that its occurrence here at 

 Richmond was interesting in view of the fact that in Macoun's 

 catalogue the only record of its occurrence in Canada, is at True- 

 manville, Nova Scotia, where it is naturalized in an old field. 

 He therefore asked me to furnish a note as to its occurrence at 

 Richmond. 



On the 14th of the month, I visited Beechmore Farm, and 

 Mr. Pierce accompanied me to the large field where it was grow- 

 ing. The largest patch was on the east side of a knoll, about a 

 quarter of a mile from the G.T.R. main line and the same distance 

 from the Richmond and Quebec branch of that railway. The 

 elevation is over 100 feet above the railway. The extent of this 

 patch would be about twenty-five feet square, and the plant 

 had spread in a peculiar semi-circular fashion. There were 

 other patches elsewhere in the field of about a yard square, and 

 there were still smaller ones on the west side of the knoll. The 

 latter ones quite plainly owed their distribution to the harrow. 



The plant first appeared, Mr. Pierce informed me, some 

 three or four years ago. Its situation makes it improbable that 

 it is an escape from any garden. The only likely source of in- 

 troduction would seem to be the grass and clover seed which had 



