2011MNRAS.410L..32M

The globular cluster X-ray source CXO J033831.8-352604 in NGC 1399 has recently been found to show strong emission lines of [O III] and [N II] in its optical spectrum in addition to ultraluminous X-ray emission with a soft X-ray spectrum. It was further suggested that this system contained an intermediate-mass black hole which had tidally disrupted a white dwarf, producing the strong emission lines without detectable hydrogen emission. We show that an alternative exists which can explain the data more naturally in which the oxygen- and nitrogen-rich material is ejected from an R Corona Borealis (RCB) star. The scenario we propose here does not require an intermediate-mass black hole as the accretor, but also does not exclude the possibility.