1 INTRODUCTION  
2 THE SERPENS STAR-FORMING REGION  
3 THE REDDENING INSENSITIVE INDEX $(Q)$  
3.1 CFHT Photometry  
3.2 HST Photometry  
4 OBSERVATIONS  
4.1 Photometric survey observations  
4.2 Photometric criteria for candidate member selection  
4.3 Spectroscopic Follow-up  
4.4 High Resolution Follow-up Observations  
5 EFFECTS OF EXTINCTION  
6 CHARACTERISATION  
6.1 Spectral Fitting  
6.2 New Detections  
6.3 YSO Catalogues  
6.4 Physical Parameters  
6.5 HST Imaging  
6.6 Other Serpens South HST observations  
6.7 Contrast Curves  
7 DISCUSSION  
7.1 Mass estimates of new detections  
7.2 New binary discovery  
8 CONCLUSIONS