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ROSAT HRI X-ray imaging is presented of the galaxy NGC4696. The X-ray image shows a remarkable similarity to optical images of the emission-line gas and dust in this object. A morphological correspondence such as this is required in the ``merger'' interpretation of this and other similar systems. That interpretation has been proposed as a viable alternative to cooling-flows, without the large mass depositions of the cooling-flow scenario, and relying on quite different physical processes to explain the observations. A prediction of the merger model, Sparks, Macchetto \&\ Golombek (1989), in which cold accreted gas draws energy from pre-existing hot coronal gas via electron conduction, was that the X-ray and optical gaseous morphologies should be closely related. Here, we present a preliminary analysis of high resolution X-ray imaging data, recently obtained with the ROSAT satellite, needed to test the prediction.
