than the turbulence scale (cf. Moffat 1978, Parker 1979, Zeldovich [*et al.*]{} 1983). However, turbulent motions, with a large enough magnetic Reynolds number (MRN henceforth), can also excite a small-scale dynamo, which exponentiates fields correlated on the tubulent eddy scale, at a rate much faster than the mean field growth rate (Kazantsev 1968, Zeldovich [*et al.*]{} 1983 and see below). A possible worry is that, these small-scale fields can come to equipartition with the turbulence much before the large-scale field has grown appreciably and may then interfere with the large-scale dynamo action (cf. Kulsrud and Anderson, 1992 (KA)). Indeed the efficiency of the dynamo to produce the observed large-scale field has come under increasing scrutiny (Cattaneo and Vainshtein 1991, Vainshtein and Rosner 1991, Kulsrud and Anderson 1992, Brandenburg 1994, Field 1996, Blackman 1996, Chandran 1997, Subramanian 1997). It appears therefore that understanding large-scale dynamo action due to helical turbulence is also closely linked with understanding the dynamics of the small-scale fluctuating component of the magnetic field. This forms the prime motivation for the present work, where we revist the dynamics of the fluctuating field ab initio.

Fluctuating field dynamics is best studied in terms of the dynamics of magnetic correlation 