Spores: long, ellipsoid, slightly lemon-shaped, smooth and with a distinct germ-pore at one end and 12-14 × 7 µm in size. Marginal cystidia: bottle-shaped with an elongate tapering neck, with thin walls which at most become pale honey in solutions containing ammonia, unlike the cystidia of _Hypholoma_ (p. 64). _Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Commonly growing amongst grass in fields near farm-yards, on heaths and by roadsides; often it occurs in small troops. _General Information_: _Psilocybe semilanceata_ is recognised by the uniquely shaped cap; ‘semilanceata’ means half spear-shaped, from the papilla at the top of the cap, giving it a pointed aspect. However, the common name is more descriptive and comes from the fact that these caps resemble the helmets worn by French soldiers in the early part of the century. This fungus was once very isolated amongst British agarics, but now it has been united with a group of small purplish brown-spored fungi formerly placed in the genus _Deconica_. What is of more interest is the fact that unlike many British agarics the cap often does not expand fully in order to release the spores. In this way it allows mycologists to hypothesise on how certain of the enclosed, stalked Gastromycetes evolved in some of the desert regions of the world. _Illustrations_: LH 149; NB 33¹¹; WD 78⁷. [Illustration: Plate 34. Fleshy fungi: Spores purple-brown and borne on gills] ~Conocybe tenera~ (Fries) Fayod Brown cone-cap _Cap_: width 10-20 mm. _Stem_: width 3-6 mm; length 70-100 mm. _Description_: Cap: very hygrophanous, sand colour, orange-yellow or ochraceous brown tinted cinnamon when fresh but drying uniformly yellow-ochre, thin, fragile, striate when moist, but soon non-striate as water is lost from the cap. Stem: tall, slender and similarly coloured to the cap, straight, fragile, minutely striate from the top to bottom with what appears to be minute powdery granules. Gills: adnate then becoming free, crowded, ochraceous and finally cinnamon-rust in colour. Flesh: russet when moist but rapidly becoming yellowish as the fruit-body dries. Spore-print: rust-brown. Spores: long, ellipsoid, with thick, bright yellow-brown walls and distinct germ-pores at their ends when seen under the microscope, and over 10 µm in length (11-12 × 6 µm.) Marginal cystidia: pinheaded or skittle-shaped. Facial cystidia: absent. _Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus grows in ones and twos, more rarely in troops amongst grass.