This collection of 11 chapters is devoted to a survey of artificial and reconsti- tuted membrane systems. These are fundamental themes and areas of great current importance in membrane biochemistry. They also relate well to the founding concept of this series, namely, to present studies that progressively work toward and provide us with an "integrated view of the cell. " In this volume, it is the application of a wide range of physiochemical and biochemi- cal techniques to the study of membrane lipids and proteins which serves to demonstrate the significant progress that has been made in this field over the past 25 years. From the understanding of simplified artificial systems, it is hoped that it will ultimately be possible to gain a more accurate understanding of natural biological membranes, in all their diversity. This book is an appropriate successor to Volume 13 of the series, which deals with fluorescence studies on biological membranes. Indeed, the present chapter by Lesley Davenport and colleagues was originally due for inclusion in Volume 13, but has been held over for inclusion in this volume, where it integrates remarkably well with the other topics. The extremely varied and interesting contents of this volume are now briefly outlined. In Chapter I, Jacqueline A. Reynolds and Darrell R. McCaslin pres- ent a pertinent survey of the interaction of detergents with membrane lipids and proteins, together with an assessment of the reconstitution process.