ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI 2QI 
imported from foreign countries. Sometimes whole 
cargoes of potatoes or other vegetables are refused en- 
trance at the port, and must then be taken to sea and 
dumped into the ocean, or else taken to the port of some 
other country where the regulations are less stringent or 
less rigidly inforced. 
282. Diseases Caused by Phycomycetes. Among the 
plant diseases caused by the alga-like fungi may be 
mentioned : 
FIG. 213. "Little potatoes." A disease caused by the parasitic fungus, 
Rhizoctonia (Corticium vagum var. solani Burt). 
1. The " damping-off fungus" (Pythium de Baryanum 
Hesse), which attacks young seedlings of beans and other 
plants near the surface of the ground, causing the tissues 
there to disintegrate, and the entire plant finally to wilt 
and die. 
2. Brown rot of lemons, commonly seen in fruit that 
has been kept too long or in too damp a place. 
3. "Blister-blight" or white "rust" of radishes and 
their relatives, such as shepherd's purse and mustard. 
