The MECO experiment to search for μ−N→e−Nwith sensitivity below 10−16

I review the motivation for and status of searches for violation of muon and electron number conservation in muon initiated processes. I discuss the expected progress in muon conversion experiments, concentrating on the MECO experiment, E940 at BNL. It will improve the sensitivity for the process μ − N→e − N to below 10 −16 , roughly 4 orders of magnitude better than the present limit.