[en] A sample of 46 elliptical galaxies with published neutral hydrogen upper limits of detections is analyzed by a maximum likelihood technique. The sample is most likely drawn from a parent distribution which is bimodal in the ratio of hydrogen mass to blue luminosity (M/sub H/ /sub i//L/sub B/). The character of this bimodal distribution is such that about 70% of all ellipticals are undetectable at the sensitivities of present surveys (M/sub Hi//L/sub B/ <0.003) and the remainder contain neutral hydrogen at the level of M/sub Hi//L/sub B/roughly-equal0.03. The significance of this bimodal distribution is high even if galaxies in the core of the Virgo cluster are excluded from the sample