Nearby cluster ellipticals follow a very tight relation between velocity dispersion σ and Mg absorption (e.g. Bender et al. 1993, ApJ411, 153). The small scatter in Mg implies that the age and metallicity spread at a given σ in ellipticals is smaller than 15% (applying Worthey's population synthesis models 1994, ApJS95, 107). This means that ellipticals cannot have formed continuously over the Hubble time and ongoing merger processes represent only a tail of latecomers.