5 Conclusions

Of the 12 ellipticals studied here, five (NGC 1339, NGC 1374, NGC 1379, NGC 1404 and NGC 1419) are rotationally supported systems, having positive rotation parameter (log($\frac{V}{\sigma}$)*>0). The interest in this result is strengthened by the fact that four of these galaxies are E0/E1 systems, the only remaining round system in the sample being NGC 1399. NGC 1374, NGC 1379 and NGC 1404 are most probably S0 galaxies (due to the overall constancy of their RCs; see also Fisher 1997, and the case of NGC 3379 presented in Statler et al. 1997), although a more complex structure has to be invoked to explain their kinematical features. The RCs of NGC 1374 and NGC 1404, in particular, may reveal the presence of a double-disk structure (cf. Seifert & Scorza 1996). The rotation parameter of NGC 1339 is consistent with that of an isotropic oblate model, but the shape and the asymmetry of both the VDP and the RC indicate a significant departure from a "simple'' isotropic rotator.

Four objects (NGC 1336, FCC 136, NGC 1373, and NGC 1419) are most probably SB0 galaxies: NGC 1336 and NGC 1419, in particular, have kinematical profiles identical to the SB0 galaxy IC 456 (Bettoni 1989, see also Galletta 1996). This conclusion is also strongly supported by the photometric properties, all these galaxies having strong isophotal twisting (see the photometric profiles in Caon et al. 1994).

The three remaining galaxies are definitely "dynamically hot'' systems. FCC 335 is a faint galaxy (M_B=-16.8 for H₀=75 km s^-1 Mpc^-1) with low surface brightness ($\mu_{\rm e}$ = 23.5 B mag/arcsec²), low velocity dispersion ($\sigma_0= 43$ km s^-1) and low rotation ($V_{\rm max}= 24$ km s^-1). NGC 1399 and NGC 1427 are instead bright galaxies, with high (and roughly constant) velocity dispersions, and relatively slow rotation: this is exactly what one expects from "true'' giant ellipticals. For both objects the present data show complex kinematics: the already-known kinematically distinct core in NGC 1399 plus a second clear kinematically distinct component visible at 10$\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$}$ from the center. Both from the VDP and from the RC of NGC 1427 there is evidence for kinematically distinct components at the inner 2$\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$}$ and inside 10$\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$}$ from the center; NGC 1427 also shows anti-correlated wiggles in both the RC and the VDP.

In summary: it seems that more than half of the galaxies in the present sample are, at least from the kinematical point of view, misclassified S(A-B)0s. Morphological classification by visual inspection of images, apparently results in a dramatic over-estimate of the true number of "dynamically hot'' stellar systems. The catalog of Ferguson (1989) lists 58 Fornax galaxies with $B_{\rm T}$ < 15.0 mag, from the 14 listed as having morphological type E, only 3 turn out to be true elliptical galaxies in the classical sense of the word; indicating that these objects are in fact quite rare. Most of the objects, moreover, show complex kinematical profiles, like kinematically distinct components, wiggles, and asymmetries.

The presence of (dynamically decoupled) sub-components is one of the possible explanations of such complex kinematics. Complicated velocity fields may arise as well from triaxial systems due to competing contributions of different families of orbits (Statler 1991a,b; Statler et al. 1997, and references therein), like, for instance, the possible presence of a substantial fraction of retrograde orbits (Wozniak & Pfenninger 1997; compare their Fig. 5c to some of our RCs).

A concluding remark is in order: all the data presented here show very complicated kinematics, which is only in part accounted for by misclassification of S0s into Es. It seems, instead, conceivable that complex kinematics is a common, and dynamically stable, characteristic of elliptical galaxies.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to F. Bertola, D. Burstein, M. Capaccioli, K. Freeman, Ph. Prugniel, F. Simien, and L. Sparke for helpful discussions and suggestions. We are also grateful to the staff of MSSSO and to K. McKenzie for her telescope assistance. We thank the anonymous referee whose comments helped us express some points more clearly.