The Red Flouse-Ant. 287 
of moving coal, all the dust and dirt from coal will be 
avoided, and every drop of oil will be consumed, and there 
will be smokeless fires ashore and afloat. As with coals, so 
with oils, there is a difference of quality, and it is not a 
little remarkable that England, possessing the superior 
qualities of the first, should possess also the best of the 
latter. While the American oils will touch 13 lb., nearly 
all the English ones exceed them, and the Torbane hill 
oil will go nearly, if not quite up to 20 lb.; and here we 
would hint to oil distillers that their present crude oils and 
the veriest tarry refuse will have as fuel a value in the 
market, for most of them will do as much as ordinary coal. 
For the best work engineers will have the best oil, as they 
have now the best coals ; but if the thickest refuse of the 
distilleries will evaporate probably its 6 lb. of water, the 
mineral oil makers will have a profitable market for that 
which they incur an expense now to be rid of, disposing of 
it for manure or any casual purpose. For our fast pas- 
senger steamers, the oil will be a boon of the greatest value, 
and our sharp-witted companies will doubtles try its mettle. 
For our men-of-war it will, in unpeaceful times, be an im- 
perative necessity, and we may be sure that our new 
Government will neglect no important means of providing 
for the supremacy of the British navy. 
Whatever further experiments may be probably under- 
taken before oil is adopted by the Admiralty, sufficient at 
least has been done, and under such superintendence that 
the results can neither be doubted nor disputed, to prove 
that there is a fuel capable of superseding coal for steam 
and mechdnical purposes, that it has been practically tried 
and applied, and which only awaits the demand to come 
into the market at economic prices. 
THE RED HOUSE-ANT. (DIPLORHOPTRUM 
MOLESTA)) 
BY W. E. SHUCKARD. 
NFORTUNATELY I can give no new information 
respecting the little ant which has been sent me, 
and which, I am told, has recently made its appearance in 
vast numbers at Hastings, Brighton, &c., and also in the 
