\begin{table}%t3
\par
\caption {\label{table_groups_VVDSreal}Number of VVDS-02h groups reconstructed by the
algorithm using the {\it best set} of parameters in VVDS-02h field,
for $0.2\leq z \leq 1.0$. }
%\centering
\par
\begin{tabular}{c  c c c c c c c c   c}                
\hline\hline 
\par
$\sigma$ (km~s$^{-1}$)        & \multicolumn{9}{c}{Group members}\\    
                              &   2               &   3              &    4        &   5         &    6       &   7        &  8         &  9  &  ALL  \\    
\par
\hline                                   
\par
  $\sigma = 0$\tablefootmark{a}        &  89(23)          &   24(10)     &     8(2)     & --      &  --       &  --      & --    &   --  &   121(35)  \\                     
  $0 < \sigma < 350$        &   61(25)          &   39(18)     &     18(6)     & 8(5)       &  3(2)       &  3(3)      &  2(1)   & --    &   134(60)    \\                 
  $\sigma \geq 350$      &    24(0)          &   19(6)     &     6(3)     &5(1)         &    4(2)      &  3(2)      &  1(0)    &  1(1)     &  63(15)    \\                   
\par
\hline 
\multicolumn{8}{c}{} & Total:       & 318(110)\\    
\hline 
\end{tabular}
\par
\tablefoot{Statistics are quoted as a function of the
number of group members (columns) and measured l.o.s. 
velocity dispersion of group galaxies ($\sigma$, in km~s$^{-1}$, rows). Numbers in brackets
indicate the number of groups also found by applying the algorithm with
the {\it high-purity} set of parameters.\\
\tablefoottext{a}{We refer the reader to Sect.  \ref{real_VVDS_catalogue} for the meaning of $\sigma = 0$}.}\vspace*{2mm}
\end{table}