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THE SEPS, OR CICIGNA. 
soil light and moist. It is an active little creature, and moves from place to place with much 
agility. In this reptile the tongue is rather large, covered with little scale-like papillae in 
front, becoming more thread-like behind. The color is gray, with a bronzy lustre, and a black 
streak runs along each side. 
The next family of Lizards contains only one species, the Ophiomoke ( OpJiiomorus 
milidris ), and is separated from the skinks and the sepsidse on account of a formation of the 
scales of the head, which seems to place it in an intermediate position between those two 
families. There are no external limbs, and the whole body and tail are long, cylindrical, 
tapering, and serpentine in aspect. The color of the Ophiomore is brown above, covered with 
numerous tiny black dots arranged in regular lines along the body, and being larger upon the 
sides. The under parts are white, and the sides are gray. It is a native of Northern Africa, 
and has been brought from Algiers. 
In the Sepsidse, a family which contains seven genera, there are always external limbs, 
mostly four in number, but in one genus, Scelotes, the front pair of legs are wanting, and the 
hinder pair are small and divided at the extremity into two toes only. 
SEPS, OR CICIGNA. -Seps tndactylus. 
The typical species of this family is the common Seps, or Cicigha, a curious snake-like 
Lizard, found in various parts of the world, and not uncommon in many portions of Europe. 
Specimens have been taken in the south of France, in Italy, Sardinia, Syria, and the north of 
Africa. The name of Seps is of Greek origin, and signifies corruption. From ancient times to 
the present day, this harmless little reptile has been held in great dread by the natives of the 
country wherein it dwells, being considered as a deadly enemy to cattle, biting them at night 
during their sleep, and filling their veins with corruption. Horses, and especially mares, were 
thought to be the most frequent sufferers from the bite of this reptile. 
The legs of the Seps are very weak, and are set far apart, so that the creature trusts but 
little to the limbs for its powers of locomotion, and wriggles itself along after the fashion of 
the snakes. The food of the Seps consists of worms, small snails, slugs, insects, spiders, and 
similar creatures, its general habits seeming to resemble those of the bhndworm. Like the 
lizard, when the winter approaches, it burrows deeply in the loose soil, and remains hidden 
until the succeeding spring. 
