observation, was, owing to his peculiar modesty, not extracted from 

 him without reluctance ; but it immediately procured his election 

 into the Royal Society. It had been preceded, on its publication in 

 1875, by other papers scarcely less important, in which he established 

 the Chlamydophora, a new order of Heliozoa, and described many other 

 new genera, of which Ehaphidiophrys is one of the most remarkable. 

 He trained himself to be an admirable draughtsman, and the beauti- 

 ful illustrations to his papers fall somewhat short of the delicacy of 

 the original drawings. 



Archer was always a man of small means, and the necessary occu- 

 pations of his earlier life were never very congenial to him. In 1872 

 the Marquis of Ripon, then Lord President of the Council, entirely 

 unsolicited, offered Archer, who was personally unknown to him, the 

 Professorship of Botany in the Royal College of Science for Ireland. 

 Archer, with characteristic conscientiousness, shrank from the respon- 

 sibilities of a teaching chair. Pour years later his friends were more 

 successful in getting him appointed Librarian of the New National 

 Library, a post for which his careful and business habits admirably 

 fitted him. He threw himself into the work of organising the 

 library with characteristic determination, and no doubt impaired the 

 strength of a constitution which was never robust. Unfortunately 

 his duties largely withdrew him from scientific work. He retired on 

 a pension in 1895, and died August 14 of the present year. He 

 never married. 



Apart from the scientific enthusiasm which dominated his charac- 

 ter, Archer had a singular charm of manner. A gentleness and refine- 

 ment of disposition, almost feminine, made him impossible to quarrel 

 with, and he was one of those fortunate people who go through life 

 without making an enemy. There was no want of robustness, how- 

 ever, about his scientific insight; but a quaint sense of humour 

 would always parry a contentious criticism. A few words may be 

 quoted from the notice by his friend, Mr. Prazer, in the October 

 number of the ' Irish Naturalist ' as to the regard with which he 

 was held as a public servant : — " He was, as head of a great library, 

 eminently successful in discharging his duties, and securing the 

 esteem of his subordinates and of the public at large ; those especially 

 who profited by his assistance in forwarding their literary researches 

 will gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to his patient and 

 untiring desires to meet their wishes and advance their interests."' 



Archer filled the office of Secretary for Poreign Correspondence to 

 the Royal Irish Academy from 1875 to 1880, and in 1879 was the 

 recipient of its Cunningham Gold Medal. 



W. T. T. D. 



