  We examine whether active galaxies obey the same relation between black hole
mass and stellar velocity dispersion as inactive systems, using the largest
published sample of velocity dispersions for active nuclei to date. The
combination of 56 original measurements with objects from the literature not
only increases the sample from the 15 considered previously to 88 objects, but
allows us to cover an unprecedented range in both stellar velocity dispersion
(30--268 km/s) and black hole mass (10^5-10^8.6 M_sun). In the M-sigma relation
of active galaxies we find a lower zeropoint than the best-fit relation of
Tremaine et al. (2002) for inactive galaxies, and an intrinsic scatter of 0.4
dex. There is also evidence for a flatter slope at low black hole masses. We
discuss potential contributors to the observed offsets, including variations in
the geometry of the broad-line region, evolution in the M-sigma relation, and
differential growth between black holes and galaxy bulges.
