  (Abridged) We investigate the number of physical companion galaxies for a
sample of relatively isolated elliptical galaxies. NED has been used to
reinvestigate the incidence of satellite galaxies for a sample of 34 elliptical
galaxies, first investigated by Bothun & Sullivan in a visual search out to a
projected search radius of 75 kpc. We have repeated their original
investigation using data cataloged in NED. Nine of these elliptical galaxies
appear to be members of galaxy clusters; the remaining sample of 25 galaxies
reveals an average of +1.0+/-0.5 apparent companions per galaxy within a
projected search radius of 75 kpc, in excess of two equal-area comparison
regions displaced by 150-300 kpc. This is significantly larger than the
+0.12+/-0.42 companions/galaxy found by Bothun & Sullivan for the identical
sample. Making use of published radial velocities identifies physical
companions and gives a somewhat lower estimate of +0.4 companions per
elliptical galaxy. An expansion of the search radius out to 300 kpc.
