Finally, the forward and backward scans of each star were averaged and residuals of the differenced spectra were calculated in order to evaluate the average SNR. The observations were obtained with the goal of achieving SNR of 75 or greater. In most cases this was achieved with the highest quality spectra reaching values of several hundreds. The average SNR for each stellar spectrum is included in Table \[ftshewsup\] –Table \[ftshewdw\] below.

Line Identification and Dependence on Temperature and Luminosity
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Representative H–band spectra are shown in Figures \[fig3\]– \[fig6\] for luminosity classes I–II, III, IV, and V, with prominent atomic and molecular features identified. Line identifications were made for the strongest lines from comparison with the solar photospheric and umbral near infrared atlases (Livingston & Wallace 1991 (LW91); Wallace & Livingston 1992 (WL92)). However, at our moderate spectral resolution many features are blended and we found the model atmosphere calculations of Oliva, Moorwood, and Origlia (1993) to be useful in identifying the dominant contributors to a blend in late–type stars.

Visual inspection of the features in Figures \[fig3\]– \[fig6\] reveals that $R=3000$ H–band spectra contain sufficent temperature and luminosity sensitive features to enable spectral classes to be distinguished. Beginning with 