Klingensmith: Brothers in College Football 



287 



of a year, swallowing them whole — and 

 Ophisatirns does not possess the neces- 

 sary speed to escape this tyrant among 

 our reptiles. 



With respect to color, Ophisaiirus is 

 beautifully marked, the scales of the 

 head each possessing a fine dot of green ; 

 the sides are striped, the dorsum rang- 

 ing from dark brown to black; while the 

 ventral surface is of a fine shade of pale 

 yellowish green — often almost greenish 

 white. The entire surface is very 

 glossy, and the feel to the hand that of 

 porcelain or smooth glass. 



In 1881, I published, in the Proceed- 

 ings of the United States National 

 Museum, a complete account of the 

 osteology of Ophisaurus, and I showed 

 therein that while the form does not 

 possess rudimentary humeri, it does 

 have the femora in that condition, and 

 they articulate with the pelvis in the 

 usual manner. Otherwise the limbs are 

 but vestigeal structures, and the gen- 

 eral morphology of the animal is that 

 of a true lizard. 



Taking everything into considera- 

 tion, there is no doubt but that Ophi- 

 saurus ventralis is descended from some 

 ancient species among the Anguidce, 



and herpetologists generally hold that 

 it is a "degenerate." 



Now comes the question: what did 

 Ophisaurus gain in gradually passing 

 from the form of a true, four-limbed 

 lizard to that of a serpent without the 

 semblance of limbs? My contention is 

 that it lost in every essential particular 

 — that is, in so far as the assurance of 

 the perpetuation of its race is con- 

 cerned. Its resemblance to a snake 

 probably trebled the number of its 

 enemies; it by no means gained the 

 agility of a snake — hence it cannot so 

 well make its escape; and it possesses 

 no advantage over most lizards in the 

 fact that it can voluntarily part with 

 its tail. To some extent its coloration 

 is protective ; but not nearly so much so 

 as it is among many lizards, as Anolis 

 and the chameleons. Finally, it is but 

 an average swimmer — water being an 

 element in which many serpents are 

 perfectly at home; it soon drowns if 

 compelled to remain under the surface 

 of it. 



What switched the ancestors of this 

 lizard serpentwards it is difficult to 

 conjecture, and suggestions on this 

 point are quite in order. 



BROTHERS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL 



A Brief Study Showing That Brothers Are Often Selected to Play the Same 

 Positions on Football Teams 



A LIST of 29 sets of brothers who 

 are playing, or previously have 

 played college football under 

 coaches who presumably knew the 

 positions to which they were best fitted, 

 shows that 24 pairs were fitted to play 

 similar positions, and 5 pairs to play 

 positions which are entirely different 

 as to physical requirements and train- 

 ing. 



In this connection, ends who had 

 brothers playing in the back field were 

 considered in the same class, because 

 the requirements of the two positions 

 are much the same. Ends and backs 



R. E. Klingensmith 



University of Pittsburgh 



must be faster and possibly think 

 more quickly than the heavy lineman. 



Of the 24, two sets are listed as 

 playing different positions, but they 

 were made over from similar positions 

 to fill the needs of their respective 

 teams. 



Some notable athletes who seem 

 to run to type are the Poe boys of 

 Princeton, of whom there were five, 

 all backs or ends and all exceptional 

 drop-kickers. Much of this ability 

 probably came through training, for it 

 is known that these boys spent hours at 



