An additional piece of evidence may be found in the 
use of the word nanacatl in modern Mexico. In provision 
markets of Mexico, mushrooms in general are called 
nacatl (17). 
Serna (25) recorded a very complete description of 
teonanacatl and its use as a narcotic and clearly distin¬ 
guished it from peyote: 
And it so happened that an Indian had come . . . bringing some 
of the colored mushrooms which are gathered in the hills, and, with 
these, he had performed a great idolatry. But before explaining this 
(idolatry], I wish to explain the nature of the said mushrooms which, 
in the Mexican language, are called quatlannamacatl . . . these mush¬ 
rooms were small and yellowish, and to collect them the priests and 
old men, appointed as ministers for these impostures, went to the 
hills and remained almost the whole night in sermonizing and in su¬ 
perstitious praying. At dawn, when a certain little breeze which they 
know began to blow, they would gather them [the mushrooms], at¬ 
tributing to them deity. They have the same effects as ololiuqui and 
peyote, for when they are eaten or drunk, they intoxicate, depriving 
those who partake of them of their senses and making them believe a 
thousand absurdities. 
Benvento in Kingsborough (10) reports the use of 
mushrooms for intoxication: 
They had another kind of intoxication. . . which was induced by 
small toadstools or mushrooms. . . which are eaten raw. Because of 
the bitter taste of these mushrooms, they drink after them or eat with 
them a little honey after which they shortly see a thousand visions, 
especially snakes. They went raving mad, and they ran about the 
streets wildly. . . In their language they called these mushrooms 
teunamacatlth , a word which means “bread of the gods . . 
Basing his statement on the etymology proposed by 
Simeon (21,25), LaBarre (14) points out that Benvento’s 
etymology is wrong. The belief that teonanacatl means 
“bread of the gods” or “flesh of the gods” is wide¬ 
spread. Thus, in an unpublished manuscript, V. A. Reko 
(16) applies the meaning of “divine food of a soft or 
fleshy nature” to teonanacatl. Safford (18, 19) consist- 
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