On particle multiplicities in three-jet events

A thorough verification of the distinct differences in the properties of qu ark and gluon jets is considered as one of the most instructive tests of th e basic ideas of QCD. In the real life experiments such a comparison appear s to be quite a delicate task and various subtle issues require further the oretical efforts. In this paper we discuss in detail the possibility to ext ract the theoretically adequate information from the particle multiplicity patterns in three-jet events in e(+)e(-) annihilation.