  Multiplicities in e+e- annihilation and relativistic heavy ion collisions
show remarkable similarities at high energies. A thermal-statistical model is
proposed to explain the differences which occur mainly at low beam energies.
Two different calculations are performed, one using an approximate
thermodynamic relationship, the other using a full thermal model code. The
results are in qualitative agreement, suggesting that the interplay of baryon
density and temperature tends to systematically suppress the total multiplicity
at lower beam energies.
