cluster in the system has a definite, mass-dependent lifetime against the dynamical mechanisms mentioned above. In a rough approximation to a combination of complicated processes, there is then a mass scale (say $m_*$) above which few or no globulars will have disappeared by the current epoch. Thus, the GCS mass function at $m>m_*$ is effectively unchanged, even after a Hubble time, from the initial distribution. However, clusters with initial masses $m<m_*$ [*can*]{} have been removed from the system, and the GCS mass function below $m_*$ may differ significantly from its initial form. If this low-mass end of the evolved $d{\cal N}/dm$ can also be described by a power-law, then the full, present-day GCS mass function is just $$\left({{d{\cal N}}\over{dm}}\right)_{\rm obs}\,=\,\left\{
\begin{array}{cl}
K\,m_*^{\gamma_1-\gamma_2}\,m^{-\gamma_1}\,, & \ \ \ \ m_\ell\leq m\leq m_* \\
K\,m^{-\gamma_2}\,, & \ \ \ \ m_*\leq m\leq m_u\ ,
\end{array}
\right.
\label{eq:25}$$ where $\gamma_1<\gamma_2$ for consistency.

Observed GCSs do, in fact, have mass functions that conform to roughly this sort of double power law (Harris & Pudritz 1994; McLaughlin 1994; McLaughlin & Pudritz 1996)—although there is somewhat more structure than this at the highest cluster masses in $d{\cal N}/dm$, it can be safely ignored for the purposes of 