An H i survey of 10 dE/dS0 galaxies in the nearby Sculptor and Centaurus A groups was made using the Australia Telescope Compact Array ( ATCA ) .
The observed galaxies have accurate distances derived by Jerjen et al ( 1998 ; 2000b ) using the surface brightness fluctuation technique .
Their absolute magnitudes are in the range -9.5 > M _ { B } > -15.3 .
Only two of the ten galaxies were detected at our detection limit ( \sim 1.0 \times 10 ^ { 6 } { \cal M } _ { \odot } for the Centaurus group and \sim 5.3 \times 10 ^ { 5 } { \cal M } _ { \odot } for the Sculptor group ) , the two dS0 galaxies ESO384-016 in the Centaurus A Group and NGC 59 in the Sculptor Group , with H i masses of 6.0 \pm 0.5 \times 10 ^ { 6 } { \cal M } _ { \odot } and 1.4 \pm 0.1 \times 10 ^ { 7 } { \cal M } _ { \odot } respectively .
Those two detections were confirmed using the Green Bank Telescope .
These small H i reservoirs could fuel future generations of low level star formation and could explain the bluer colors seen at the center of the detected galaxies .
Similarly to what is seen with the Virgo dEs , the two objects with H i appear to be on the outskirt of the groups .