  There is now strong evidence that the metal-rich globular clusters (GC) near
the center of our Galaxy are associated with the Galactic bulge rather than the
disk as previously thought. Here we extend the concept of bulge GCs to the GC
systems of nearby spiral galaxies. In particular, the kinematic and metallicity
properties of the GC systems favor a bulge rather than a disk origin. The
number of metal-rich GCs normalized by the bulge luminosity is roughly constant
(i.e. bulge S_N ~ 1) in nearby spirals, and this value is similar to that for
field ellipticals when only the red (metal--rich) GCs are considered. We argue
that the metallicity distributions of GCs in spiral and elliptical galaxies are
remarkably similar, and that they obey the same correlation of mean GC
metallicity with host galaxy mass. We further suggest that the metal-rich GCs
in spirals are the direct analogs of the red GCs seen in ellipticals. The
formation of a bulge/spheroidal stellar system is accompanied by the formation
of metal-rich GCs. The similarities between GC systems in spiral and elliptical
galaxies appear to be greater than the differences.

Astrophysics