688 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
stage, in the place of the Abbe condenser or nicol, is inserted a socket 
with the small burner gh. The mouth of the burner is so small that 
the height of the flame never exceeds 15 mm. Two millimetres above 
the stage, a mica plate m-m , 0*3 mm. thick, is supported by strips of 
cardboard d-d. The object-holder o—o is separated from the mica plate 
by a layer of air, tbe thickness of which can be determined by paper 
strips. 
The late Mr. F. C. S. Roper. — We greatly regret to record the death 
of Mr. Freeman C. S. Roper, F.L.S., &c., a Fellow of this Society since 
1852, which occurred at Eastbourne in July last. Mr. Roper in former 
years was a recognised authority on the Diatomaceae, and contributed 
several valuable papers on this subject in the Trans. Mic. Soc. of London 
and the Q. J. Micr. Sci. He was also an ardent botanist and published in 
1875 a ‘ Flora of Eastbourne and the Cuckmere district of East Sussex/ 
which the late H. C. Watson, a severe critic in such matters, pronounced 
a model of what a local Flora should be. Mr. Roper was the possessor 
of an extensive library, mainly botanical and of works on the Micro- 
scope. Of the latter, he printed a list for private circulation in 1865. 
Besides this and the Flora, his chief papers are : — 
Some observations on the Diatoms of the Thames. T.M.S., ii. 
(1854) p. 67. 
On three new species of Diatomaceae. Q.J.M.S., ii. (1854) p. 283. 
Notes on new species and varieties, Brit. Mar. Diatomaceae. Q.J.M.S., 
vi. (1858) p. 17. 
On the genus Biddulphia and its affinities. T.M.S., vii. (1859). 
Notes on Actinocyclus and Eupodiscus. Q.J.M.S., vi. (1859). 
On Triceratium arcticum. T.M.S., viii. (1860). 
On the genus Licmophora. T.M.S., xi. (1863). 
Notes on the Flora of East Surrey. Jour, of Bot., 1881. 
Note on Ranunculus lingua. Jour, of Bot., xxi. 
He was Secretary of this Society from 1861-6 ; his collection of 
diatoms (some 4000 specimens) has passed to the Botanical Department 
of the British Museum, and his herbarium to the Brighton Museum. 
