environments of compact groups of galaxies yield mixed messages; some investigators find that compact groups are in dense regions and others conclude that they are not (Rood & Williams 1989; Rubin, Hunter & Ford 1991; de Carvalho, Ribeiro & Zepf 1994; Ramella et al.  1994). These discrepant conclusions are at least in part a result of incomplete data sets. We investigate the environments of the RSCG’s in redshift space. We find that most of them are embedded in loose groups or clusters.

Using the method of Ramella et al.  (1994), we count the number of galaxies (including the galaxies in the RSCG), $N_{n}$, in the redshift survey within 1.5 $h^{-1}$ Mpc (projected) of the group center and within 1500 km s$^{-1}$ of the median group velocity, $v_{\rm med}$. These scales are well-matched to the size of loose groups (Ramella, Geller & Huchra 1989).

For the remaining analyses, we exclude the 31 RSCG’s with redshifts less than 2300 km s$^{-1}$. Many of these systems differ significantly from more distant RSCG’s, making them difficult to model. They are often composed of a bright galaxy and its very faint satellites (see §6.1), a combination that we cannot detect at higher redshift. In addition, 