ALL but Fellows of the most recent date will hear with regret of the death, on Saturday, of Mr. Richard Kippist, who for nearly fifty years acted as librarian to the Linnean Society. Born in 1811, he was, when quite a lad, clerk in the office of Mr. Joseph Woods, F.L.S., architect, and an accomplished botanist. His taste for botany either originated or was acquired when under that gentleman, with whom he travelled, and afterwards assisted in the publication of “The Tourist's Flora.” Mr. Woods leaving London for Lewes, Mr. Kippist, in February, 1830, entered the service of the Linnean Society, then in Soho Square. On Prof. Don's (the librarian's) death in 1842, Mr. Kippist, then an Associate of the Society, was elected by the Fellows his successor. Mr. Kippist contributed various botanical papers to the Linnean Society, which were published in their Proceedings and Transactions; the most important of which was that on the existence of spiral cells in the seeds of Acanthaceœ. He was an original Member of the Royal Microscopical Society, and an Associate of the Royal Botanical Society, Regent's Park. For a number of years Mr. Kippist suffered from asthma and chronic bronchitis, which materially affected his earlier active habits. He retired from office in 1880, after fifty years' service. He identified himself completely with the Society and its officers, securing the esteem of successive presidents and Councils, and the respect of succeeding generations of Fellows. Latterly he carried his methodical habits and his zeal for the Society's welfare to a degree that might have been distasteful to those younger Fellows who were not acquainted by experience with his life-long, single-minded devotion to the Society. These qualities, however, were duly appreciated by those conversant with the affairs of the Society, and whenever opportunity served, fit expression was made of the sense entertained of the value of his services, so that when, a year or two since, Mr. Kippist's failing health no longer enabled him to discharge his duties, the graceful action of the Council in allowing their old servant to retire on full pension was universally approved of by the Fellows. Mr. Kippist's complete devotion to the duties of his office left him little leisure for other work, while his modest, retiring habits led him to shun society. His published memoirs are therefore few in number, but they are marked with the scrupulous fidelity so characteristic of the author. They relate exclusively to botanical subjects.