Spiral Structure and Galaxy Environment

Among 330 normal spirals of types Sa-Sc the fraction of objects exhibiting``ring'', ``intermediate'' and ``spiral'' arm varieties does not correlatedwith environment. A similar conclusion appears to apply to the arm varieties of123 barred spirals of types SBa-SBc. It is concluded that, among the northernShapley-Ames galaxies, the distinction between the spiral and ring varieties ofspiral arms is, within the accuracy of presently available data, independent ofgalaxy environment. This result suggests that the detailed morphology of spiralarms depends primarily on parent galaxy characteristics, rather than on thegalactic environment.Comment: 8 pages. no figures. To be published in the August 2202 issue of A