The Fifth International Rotifer Symposium was organized by Dr. Claudia Ricci and held in the northern Italian town of Gargnano (Brescia) from September 12-17, 1988. Through the generosity of the Rector of Milano University, a beautiful villa on the shores of Lake Garda was made available to the 83 people from 20 countries who attended the symposium. Ten of these rotifer workers had attended the four previous meetings. Such symposia serve three major functions, the results of which will be apparent in the papers contained in this volume. First, because of the heterogeneity of interests and...