This is a conference program containing abstracts of presentations. Topics covered at the conference include taxonomy, genetics, wild cucurbits, amino and fatty acids, increasing yields, breeding for disease resistance, viral diseases, cytogenetic studies, isozymes in cucurbitaceae, interspecific trisomics of cucurbita, growth regulators, species hybrids, nutritional value, fruit set and development, hormonal regulation of sex expression, phenotypic variation, economic importance, mechanisms of male sterility and ethnobotany. The organizing committee consisted of: D. M. Bates, C. Jeffrey and R. W. Robinson.