Let us consider two closed surfaces $ℳ$, $𝒩$ of class $C^1$ and two functions $\varphi :ℳ\to ℝ$, $\psi :𝒩\to ℝ$ of class $C^1$, called measuring functions. The natural pseudodistance $d$ between the pairs $(ℳ,)$, $(𝒩,\psi )$ is defined as the infimum of $\Theta \left(f\right):={max}_{P\in ℳ}\left|\varphi \left(P\right)-\psi \left(f\left(P\right)\right)\right|$ as $f$ varies in the set of all homeomorphisms from $ℳ$ onto $𝒩$. In this paper we prove that the natural pseudodistance equals either $|c_1-c_2|$, $\frac{1}{2}\left|c_1-c_2\right|$, or $\frac{1}{3}\left|c_1-c_2\right|$, where $c_1$ and $c_2$ are two suitable critical values of the measuring functions. This shows that a previous relation between the natural pseudodistance and critical values...