This volume is based on lectures and contributed papers presented at the Eighth Course of the International School of Materials Science and Tech nology that was held in Erice, Sicily, Italy at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture during the period 1-13 July 1985. The subject of the course was "Electromagnetic Surface Excitations." Forty lectures were given by eleven distinguished scientists and engineers from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition to the lectur ers, approximately fifty participants representing eleven different countries throughout...