{158}_A. obstetricans_, the "Midwife-toad," has the general appearance of a smooth toad. The upper parts are rather smooth, sometimes 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 the 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 the 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 the Iberian Peninsula and in France, extending into Switzerland and beyond the Rhine 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 roadside 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 night, 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 hole, dug out by himself or appropriated from a mouse, in a crack of the bottom of a wall, under stones, or in a similar place into which he withdraws for the day.