In this paper, stochastic calculus techniques are used to describe all versions $(X(t);- infty < t < infty)$ of the multiplicative coalescent. Roughly, an extreme version is specified by translation and scale parameters, and a vector $c in l^3$ of relative sizes of large clusters at time $- infty$. Such a version may be characterized in three ways: via its $t to - infty$ behavior, via a representation of the marginal distribution $X(t)$ in terms of excursion-lengths of a L{'e}vy-type process, or via a weak limit of processes derived from the standard version via a ``coloring" construction.

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