35''' 
white  with  a black  tuft  on  the  tail  in  the  male,  pointed  without  a ' 
tuft  in  the  female. 
'Fhe  insect  appears  to^be  Caprinia  conchylalis,  Guen.,  and  is 
recorded  from  India  and  Burma,  but  I can  lind  no  account  of  its 
life  history. 
H.  N.  Ridlry. 
RAMIE. 
A Nascent  Industry  for  India. 
The  London  correspondent  of  the  Pioneer , writes  : — 
The  oft  debated  question  whether  planters  in  India  in  search  of 
profitable  forms  of  cultivation  can  grow  rhea  fibre  for  manufactur- 
ing purposes  of  a quality  enabling  them  to  compete  with  the  China 
grass  grown  in  the  Far  East  has,  you  recently  infoimed  your  rea- 
ders, been  put  to  practical  test  by  the  Bengal  Rhea  Syndicate,  who 
already  have  some  5,000  acres  under  cultivation  and  have  been 
exhibiting  in  Calcutta  sample  underclothing,  velvets,  tray  cloths, 
incandescent  gas  mantles  and  other  articles  made  therefrom, 
These  goods  were  manufactured  I believe,  on  the  continent,  but  at 
a time  when  the  problem  of  developing  inter-imperial  trade  is  up- 
permost in  the  public  mind  it  is  a matter  for  congratulation  that 
the  pioneers  of  what  is,  1 believe,  destined  to  be  a great  industry 
are  to  be  found  in  this  country  as  well  as  on  the  Continent.  The 
Ramie  Fibre  Spinning  Syndicate  Limited  of  50  Lime  ' treet,  E.  C., 
have  for  the  past  two  or  th'-ee  years  been  quietly,  but  steadily, 
feeling  their  way,  patenting  processes,  learning  trade  secrets  and 
gaining  experience  by  experiments  on  a comparatively  small  scale, 
and  therefore  at  much  smaller  cost  than  would  have  been  the  case 
had  great  things  been  attempted  too  soon.  I have  no  sort  or  kind 
of  personal  interest  in  the  concern,  and  it  was  from  the  stand  point 
of  a detached  observer,  desirous  of  obtaining  information  for  your 
readers,  that  I paid  a visit  to  the  factory  of  the  Syndicate  the  other 
day.  The  works  are  situated  on  the  outskirts  of  the  developing 
town  of  Romford  which  is  within  very  easy  reach  of  London  and  is 
well  served  by  the  Great  Eastern  Railway. 
I was  conducted  over  the  factory  by  Mr.  FRANK  BiRDWOOD, 
who  as  Secretary  to  the  concern  has  given  a great  deal  of  time  and 
thought  to  its  interests,  and  has  made  himself  as  much  at  home  in 
discussing  the  intricacies  of  textile  manufactures  and  the  relative 
advantages  of  this  or  that  machine  as  he  is  amongst  his  law  books 
and  briefs.  The  Syndicate  have  hitherto  mainly  relied  on  the 
China  market  for  raw  material,  but  the  director.s,  not  only  from  a 
business  point  of  view,  but  also  because  they  have  had  in  most 
cases  long  connection  with  India,  official  or  mercantile,  are  very 
desirous  of  bringing  the  Indian  planter  into  the  benefits  of  co- 
operation in  their  enterprise.  As  Mr.  BiRDWOOD  pointed  out 
recently  in  the  Anglo- fyidiau  Review^  the  cultivation  of  ramie  is  not 
a task  on  which  the  planter  can  enter  haphazard  and  without  due 
