Dominions in varieties generated by simple groups

We determine the dominion (in the sense of Isbell) of a subgroup H of a finite nonabelian simple group S in Var(S). We also obtain necessary and suficient conditions for H to be epimorphically embedded in S, and derive several examples, which generalize an example of B. H. Neumann. Finally, we extend the results to a variety generated by a family of finite nonabelian simple groups. Received May 12, 1999; accepted in final form April 9, 2002.