Abstract A description is provided for Pythium aphanidermatum . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: On a wide range of hosts, often similar to those attacked by P. butleri , but inducing different symptoms, represented in the following families: Amaranthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Araceae, Basellaceae, Bromeliaceae, Cactaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Coniferae, Convolvulaceae, Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Gramineae, Leguminosae, Linaceae, Malvaceae, Moraceae, Passifloraceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Umbelliferae, Violaceae, Vitaceae, Zingiberaceae . DISEASES: Damping-off of various seedlings; 'cottony-leak' of cucurbit fruit in storage; 'cottony blight' of turf grasses; root and stalk rot of maize. Other hosts: tobacco, sugar-beet, sugar-cane, papaw, pineapple, ginger, bean and cotton. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Africa (Central African Republic, Fernando, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Sudan, Togo, Zambia); Asia (Ceylon, China, Formosa, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Java, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatra); Australasia & Oceania (Australia, Hawaii, New Caledonia); North America (Canada, Mexico); Central America & West Indies (Antilles, Jamaica, Puerto Rico); South America (Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela); Europe Austria, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Italy, Poland, U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia). (CMI Map 309) TRANSMISSION: Soil-borne. Eggplant fruit become infected when blossom end is in contact with soil (5: 465). Readily isolated from soil using fresh potato cubes treated with streptomycin and pimaricin as baits (43, 1519; 43, 46) or seedling papaw roots in soil containing papaw tissue (43, 1720). Also recorded as seed-borne on tomato and cucurbits but doubtful whether seed-transmitted (see Noble et al., An Annotated List of Seed-Borne Diseases , 1958, pp. 23, 25, 124).