CHAPTER XVIII 
THALLOPHYTES : FUNGI 
177. General characters. In general, Fungi include Thal- 
lophytes which do not contain chlorophyll. From this fact 
it follows that they can not manufacture food entirely out 
of inorganic material, but are dependent for it upon other 
plants or animals. This food is obtained in two general 
ways, either (1) directly from the living bodies of plants or 
animals, or (2) from dead bodies or the products of living 
bodies. In the first case, in which living bodies are at- 
tacked, the attacking fungus is called a parasite, and the 
plant or animal attacked is called the host. In the second 
case, in which living bodies are not attacked, the fungus is 
called a saprophyte. Some Fungi can live only as parasites, 
or as saprophytes, but some can live in either way. 
Fungi form a very large assemblage of plants, much 
more numerous than the Algae. As many of the parasites 
attack and injure useful plants and animals, producing 
many of the so-called " diseases," they are forms of great 
interest. Governments and Experiment Stations have ex- 
pended a great deal of money in studying the injurious 
parasitic Fungi, and in trying to discover some method of 
destroying them or of preventing their attacks. Many of 
the parasitic forms, however, are harmless ; while many of 
the saprophytic forms are decidedly beneficial. 
It is generally supposed that the Fungi are derived from 
the Algae, having lost their chlorophyll and power of inde- 
pendent living. Some of them resemble certain Algae so 
closely that the connection seems very plain r but others 
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