15^ ANURA 



CHAP. 



A. obstetricans, the " Midwife-toad," has the general appearance 

 of a smooth toad. The upper parts are rather smooth, some- 

 times almost shiny, in spite of the numerous more or less 

 prominent warts, of which those of the lateral lines, and those 

 above the ear, are generally most marked. The colour of the 

 upper parts varies a great deal according to tlie prevalence of 

 greenish and reddish spots upon the grey or brown ground- 

 colour. The red is sometimes, especially in the breeding males, 

 rather conspicuous on tlie parotoid region and on the upper sides 

 of the body. The under parts are whitish grey. The iris is 

 pale golden, with black veins. The male has no vocal sac, and 

 is as a rule smaller than the female, the latter reaching a length 

 of two inches. 



This species occurs in the whole of tlie Iberian Peninsula and 

 in France, extending into Switzerland and beyond the Ehine 

 valley into Thuringia. Altitude above the sea does not seem to 

 have any influence upon its range, which reaches from sea-level to 

 the tops of subalpine mountains. I have found great quantities 

 of its tadpoles in Portugal on the Serra d'Estrella, nearly 6000 

 feet high, and they are recorded from 6500 feet in the Pyrenees. 

 They seem to be ubiquitous in Spain and Portugal, not that they 

 are often found or seen, but they are heard everywhere ; besides, 

 tadpoles are sure to be in the clear cold lakes on the tops of the 

 mountain-ranges, in the dirty puddles caused by the village 

 fountains, and in the sun-heated swampy ditches on the road- 

 side with scarcely enough water to hold the wriggling mass. 

 Wherever there is water within easy reach, on the lonely 

 mountains, in fertile valleys, in the gardens of the busy towns, 

 you hear during the whole niglit, from March to August, the 

 double call-note of the male, sounding like a little bell ; but to 

 see the performer is quite a different matter. He sits in front 

 of his liole, dug out by himself or appropriated from a movise, in 

 a crack of the bottom of a wall, under stones, or in a similar 

 place into which he witlidraws for the day. 



The pairing and the peculiar mode of taking care of the 

 eggs by the male, which habit has given it the specific name 

 ohstctr leans, the midwife, have been most carefully observed hy 

 A. de risle du Dreneuf, near Nantes. A condensed account has 

 been given by Boulenger. Several males collect around a 

 female on land, not in the water, and the successful one grasps 



