role in a magico-religious system based on the hallucinatory 
experience. That no reference to the hallucinogenic use of mush- 
rooms amongst the Indians of Colombia is found in the writings 
of the Spanish conquerors hardly argues against the possibility 
of such employment: the use and the cults connected with the 
mushrooms may well have died out between the dates of the 
latest gold pectorals and the 16th Century. 
Ly; 
It would, of course, be a futile exercise to presume that the 
gold pectorals in question—or any other artifact, for that 
matter—represent the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, unless 
mushrooms possessing psychotomimetic constituents actually 
do occur in the region where the artifacts were made and used. 
Although the collection and study of mushrooms in Colombia 
is still in a very preliminary stage, psilocybine-containing species 
have been reported. Species of Psilocybe are known to be widely 
distributed in the world, and the field studies of Dr. Gaston 
Guzman in 1964 and 1971 have indicated that hallucinogenic 
species of Psilocybe occur in Colombia (Guzman and Varela, 
1978). The localities are widely distributed throughout the 
nation and vary from the warm lowlands to paramos at high 
elevation. According to Guzman, the following species of Psilo- 
cybe have been registered from Colombia: P. antillarum (Fr.) 
Quel., P. argentina (Speg.) Sing., P. bullacea (Bull. ex Fr.) 
Kumm., P. columbia Guzman, P. Pintonii Guzman and P. sub- 
cubensis Guzman (which is occasionally considered to be a var- 
iant of Stropharia cubensis). A number of these mushrooms are 
presumably psilocybine-containing, since they are cyanescent 
and have a farinaceous odor and taste—indicative, according to 
Guzman’s experience, that they are hallucinogenic. Further- 
more, Panaeolus sphinctrinus (Fr.) Bresadola, known as one of 
the hallucinogenic mushrooms of Mexico, has been collected in 
Colombia (Guzman and Varela, 1978). 
Guzman writes in a letter: “I agree with you that the South 
American Indians used hallucinogenic species of Psilocybe. | 
reported 30 species from South America, but I think that there 
are more, but we need more explorations. Even | think that the 
121 
