The nature of 'box' and 'peanut' shaped galactic bulges

The results are presented of a survey of all large, normal edge-on spiral and lenticular galaxies in the Second Reference Catalogue in an attempt to isolate those objects displaying either 'box' or 'peanut' shaped central bulges. A total of 20 (+- 4) per cent of the sample objects display the features of interest (implying that ∼ 750 normal galaxies in the RC2 should do so). These box/peanuts are found to show a strong tendency towards intermediate morphological types and do not seemingly influence either the photometric or radio properties of the galaxies in which they reside to any greater or lesser degree than do 'normal' bulges. The fraction of 'boxy' bulges which occupy cluster or group environments is found to be identical to that fraction for the non-box/peanuts in the sample. They also show no preference for possession of a large number of faint satellite systems than do the non-box candidates. (author)