The pre-main-sequence population of L988

L988 is a large ( similar to 0.5 degrees; 0.7 degrees) dark cloud complex at about 600 pc that contains several bright pre- main- sequence objects ( such as V1331 Cyg and LkH alpha 321), but this paper deals in detail only with a small region on its eastern edge, near the HAeBe star LkH alpha 324. That star and its distant companion LkH alpha 324SE lie at the apex of a V- shaped area apparently excavated from the edge of L988, and are the brightest members of a small cluster containing about 50 H alpha- emission stars. A median age of about 0.6 Myr ( with large dispersion) is inferred from its color- magnitude diagram, constructed from VRI photometry to V = 22. Keck HIRES spectra show that LkH alpha 324SE is probably also an HAeBe. Its image is nonstellar, and within 300 to the northwest are three condensations having complex [ S (II)] and [ O (I)] profiles and radial velocities up to - 200 kms s (-1). They probably originate in an outflow from LkH alpha 324SE. A bright Ap star with strong Si (II) lines is embedded in the heavy obscuration 80 to the west. It illuminates a small reflection nebulosity, has several faint H alpha emitters nearby, and shares the radial velocity of L988, so clearly it was formed in that cloud. It demonstrates again that such chemical peculiarities can be established very early in young stars of moderate mass.