5. Conclusions

We would like to stress three points which follow from the study of our sample:

1. According to all tests, we think that our classifications are reliable. Because of the fact that they were obtained by the same observers, with the same instrument, they are also homogeneous.
2. To our knowledge we classified for the first time the cooler components of at least 30 composites and for the remainder we provide improved classifications. We found a number of new objects of class Ib (5), of class II (11) and of Am stars (5).
3. We find an accumulation of giants between G6 and K1, with a maximun at G8 and an absence of early G type giants which were abundant in the older classifications.

To conclude, we would like to point out certain difficulties we have found in the course of our work. In first place we had difficulties to decide between classes Ib and II, specially in the later K and early M types. For the giants we found similar difficulties with classes III-IV.

We would like to add that the hotter components of the composites merit also a critical study, because many objects show large discrepancies between the types adjudicated by different observers. We hope to undertake such a study in the near future, because it is only with the help of the best classifications that one can expect to extract all information from the new data provided by HIPPARCOS.

Acknowledgements

We appreciate very much the data and bibliographic references made available from the CDS at Strasbourg.