We are engaged in a long term study of the stellar component in the nuclear bulge of the Galaxy. Regions of low obscuration at different galactic latitudes above the galactic nucleus are surveyed for M giants with a transmission grating and thin prism at the prime focus of the CTIO 4-m reflector. Photographic and infrared photometry are obtained for samples of the stars found. Spectroscopic observations are used to investigate band strengths and radial velocities.

To understand the evolution of carbon and oxygen rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars it is important to observationally establish the relations between parameters such as luminosity, age, and metallicity. The existence of luminous (brighter than the top of the first giant branch) AGB stars in clusters in the Magellanic Clouds (Mould and Aaronson 1979; Frogel, et al. 1980) provides a nearly ideal situation in which these relations can be determined. Although metallicities and main sequence turn-off ages are known for only a fraction of the clusters, the ranking scheme devised by Searle, et al. (1980; SWB) indicates that age and metallicity are closely related to one another.