AbstractWe discuss bulges in the Hubble sequence, based on the analysis of deep near-IR images for a sample of 216 nearby galaxies. Using a 2D multicomponent decomposition code, we find that the average bulge-to-total (B/T) flux ratio is less than 0.25 across all morphological types. Even 50% of the early-type galaxies (S0-S0/a) are found to have nuclear bars, inner disks or nuclear rings inside the bulge. Also, the shape parameter of the bulge is on average ≤2 for all Hubble types. Our results are consistent with the picture in which bulges even in many early-type galaxies were formed by secular evolutionary processes. We find two galaxies that might be stripped spirals, belonging to the so far empty S0c morphological class introduced by van den Bergh (1979).