TOAD-FROGS AND DISC-TONGUED FROGS. 353 
The Midwife Frog (Alytes obstetricans) has received its very 
extraordinary name because of the strange conduct of the male 
during the breeding season, who, at that time, takes charge of the 
eggs as they are deposited in strings by the female, and winds 
them round his own legs, where, owing to a glutinous secretion, 
they firmly adhere. He then retires to a rather deep burrow 
made by himself, or to some convenient hole in the bank near the 
water’s edge, in which he spends all, or nearly all, his time until 
the eggs are just on the point of being hatched. When the eyes 
of the larvze can be seen through their envelope, the parent Frog 
enters the water and immediately the tadpoles break their sur- 
roundings and swim away. The eggs are about as large as 
grains of sago. Midwife Frogs are sometimes brought to this 
country with the spawn still attached to their thighs. One 
female will deposit as many as sixty or more eggs. 
This Batrachian is also known as the Bell Frog, owing to its 
curious croak, which has some resemblance to the sound made by 
a small bell. 
The Midwife Frog is chiefly distinguished from the Fire-bellied 
Toad by a distinct tympanum and an eye having an erect pupil. 
A, obstetricoms has a circular tongue, not nicked, and hardly 
free behind; a row of vomerine teeth placed in a straight but 
interrupted line behind the inner opening of the nostrils; a flat 
head, with a rounded snout; a stout body; three metacarpal 
tubercles; and short toes, webbed at their base and fringed. 
The upper surfaces of the body are covered with small warts. 
There is a small parotoid gland. The under parts are granular. 
The colour above is grey or olive spotted with darker shades of 
the same colour. White underneath. The male has no vocal 
sac. This Batrachian, which from the snout to the vent is about 
1yin. long, is a native of France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the 
western parts of Germany. It may occasionally be bought in 
England for 3s. or 4s. 
There is a variety of the Frog, found in Spain and Portugal, 
which is known as 4. boscw. It is recognised by its larger head, 
and the greater and more distinct spots on the upper parts of its 
body. 
os 
