H I observations of barred magellanic spirals .1. Global properties

We present observations of the Il I content of a sample of Barred Magellanic spiral type galaxies, The data are consistent with the fact that SBm systems are late-type spirals and not irregular galaxies, The barred morphology that is evident in the optical structure of these galaxies manifests itself in both the distribution and kinematics of the neutral gas. The H I is also distributed well beyond the optical extent of each galaxy. We have detected the presence of small (similar to 10(7) M.) H I clouds around four of the five galaxies in this sample. Most of the clouds appear to be actively interacting with their primary galaxy and have no optical counterparts on the Digital Sky Survey images. We speculate that the barred morphology and kinematics of these galaxies may be the result of their interaction with such neighboring clouds. Additionally, the presence of these clouds and their relationship with the primary galaxies suggests that the process of galaxy formation continues in the present epoch. (C) 1996 American Astronomical Society.