The iris is red or coppery, mottled with black. The male {171}has no vocal sacs, and, besides being smaller than the female, is distinguished by slight nuptial excrescences in the shape of little horny brushes on the inside of the inner palmar tubercle and the three inner fingers. The full size of this toad varies extremely. Taking the standard of everyday experience in England and Central Europe, one would call any female beyond 3½ inches in length, and any male of more than 2½ inches, unusually large. But occasionally they grow to a much larger size, especially in the mountains of Southern Europe, provided there is a rich vegetation of meadows and deciduous trees so as to insure a variety of plentiful food. Although Fatio[79] mentions a toad 153 mm. = 6 inches long, and Boulenger succeeded in getting a toad from Paris which measured 132 mm., _i.e._ almost 5¼ inches, one of my specimens from the Serra Gerez seems to hold the record with a total length from snout to vent of 135 mm. or more than 5¼ inches. Jersey is also famous for its large toads, possibly on account of the many large greenhouses. These large specimens do not constitute a special race. The monsters among them are without exception females, often but not always sterile, as I have often found large masses of eggs in them. Food is the chief cause. At least I have observed that the more voracious of some Spanish and Portuguese specimens, which were already 3½ inches long, and therefore entitled to respect, continued to grow rather rapidly, adding about half an inch within a year. Again, if the growth of a promising toad is arrested for a season–not necessarily by starvation, but by uncongenial surroundings, sameness, and unvaried nature of food–they consolidate so to say, or settle down, and no amount of future good feeding will turn them into exceptionally big specimens. There are no data to tell how old such monsters really are. At least ten years are required by the Southerners to reach four inches. The usual length of life attained by a toad is likewise unknown. Boulenger kept one in a box provided with a sod, a pan of water and plenty of varied food, but twelve years of close captivity did not make any appreciable difference in its appearance. {172}[Illustration: FIG. 35.–_Bufo vulgaris._ Portuguese specimen. × ⅔.]