The present invention concerns an optical arrangement for selection and detection of the spectral region of a light beam (1) in a confocal scanning microscope, having a means (2) for spectral dispersion of the light beam (1), having means (3) for selecting a definable spectral region (4), and having a detection apparatus (5). The optical arrangement should be able to scan or detect multiple narrow-band spectral regions of a spectral region to be detected, in as uninterrupted a fashion as possible and in variably adjustable steps.