UNIVALVES. 



PLATE XXXIX. 



Genus. MITRA. 



Character. Shell tapering, the summit of the spire sharply pointed, base of the 

 cheek denticulated ; the columella plicated like a screw, the lowest growing gra- 

 dually smaller ; the mouth open at the base ; beak none. 



Species. 



No. 1. Mitra papalis. Shell of a pale brown, richly shaded with lines and spots 

 of dark red ; the body and spire elongated, the revolutions of the spire nu- 

 merous, and adorned with a crowned border ; the mouth yellow, verging to 

 a brown. This shell is generally found in the East Indies, and is more rare 

 than any other of the genus. 



No. 2. 3. Mitra abbatis, or abbot's mitre, so called from its being smaller than 

 the above. These are given as varieties of the same shell, to shew the diffe- 

 rent manner in which Nature sometimes sports in the outward markings 

 or colours, keeping, at the same time, to a general similarity of form. 



No. 4. Mitra episcopalis. Shell white, slightly inclining to a brown orange, 

 spotted and streaked with a rich vermillion colour ; the spire and body gra- 

 dually tapering and acuminate; the mouth generally of an orange or 

 yellow colour. Found in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Cape de Verd 

 Islands, where it is plentifully scattered upon the shores. 



REMARKS. 



The genus Mitra is of so peculiar a form as to be readily distinguished from the Voluta, 

 Oliva, Cymbium, &c. ; its taper spire and crowned top separate it from almost every genus 

 except the Terebra, from which it chiefly differs in having a longer body, and more protube- 

 rant and spread out. Lamarck has very properly founded a distinction upon the circum- 

 stance of the flutes or teeth of the columella growing smaller as they descend towards the 

 base. There is a certain character of magnificence and grandeur in some of the shells of this 

 family, which makes them very interesting to the painter, but the lustre and transparency of 

 the colours are so great, that it is very difficult, or rather impossible, to imitate them ex- 

 actly. The Genus Mitra has been erroneously placed by some Writers with the Buccinum 

 kind, from which, however, it ought to be carefully distinguished, and we should rather 

 think that it has much more analogy to the genus Buccinella, not only in having a pillar 

 invested with flutes, but also by the form of the maxilla oris, or cheek. 



