  Using spectrophotometry of a large sample of galaxies in 19 Abell Clusters,
we have selected 42 candidate AGN by the criteria used by Dressler et.al. 1985
(DTS) in their analysis of the statistics of 22 AGN in 14 rich cluster fields,
which are based on the equivalent width of [OII]3727, Hbeta, and [OIII]5007
emission. We have then discriminated AGN from HII region-like galaxies
(hereafter HII galaxies) in the manner developed by Veilleux & Osterbrok 1987
using the additional information provided by Halpha and [NII]6583 or Halpha and
[SII]6716+6731 emission, in order to test the reliability of the selection
criteria used by DTS. We find that our sample is very similar to that of DTS
before we discriminate AGN from HII galaxies, and would lead to similar
conclusions. However, we find that their method inevitably mixes HII galaxies
with AGN, even for the most luminous objects in our sample. Other authors have
attempted to quantify the relative fraction of cluster to field AGN since the
study of DTS (Hill & Oegerle 1993, Biviano et al. 1997) reaching similar
conclusions, but using similar criteria to theirs to select AGN (or using the
[OIII]5007/Hbeta flux ratio test that also mixes HII galaxies with AGN). Our
sample of true AGN is left too small to reach statistically meaningful
conclusions, therefore a new study with the more time-consuming method that
includes the other lines will be required to quantify the true relative
fraction of cluster to field AGN.
