The articles in this volume were contributed by the friends of Lucien Le Cam on the occasion of his 70th birthday in November 1994. We wish him a belated happy birthday. In addition to all the usual excuses for our tardiness in the preparation of the volume, we must point to the miracles of modern computing . .Az3 the old proverb almost put it: there's many a slip 'twixt cup and aselineskip. We beg forgiveness of any of our infinitely patient contributors who find that the final product does not quite match with the galley proofs. Our task was also made harder by the sad death of our friend...