MITRE, its ecclesiastics, a sacerdotal head dress worn by bishops and certain other Church dignitaries on solemn occasions, being a sort of cap pointed and cleft at top. There has been much controversy regarding the date at which the mitre became part of the official dress of bishops, but the general view is that it was not in use in the Church till the begin ning of the 11th century. Some have con tended that the early Christian Church adopted with little change the head-dress of the Jewish priests. Three kinds are worn in the Roman Catholic Church, namely, the precious mitre, of gold or silver and ornamented with jewels; the mitra auriphrygiata of gold cloth, without jew els (except pearls); and mitra simplex or plain mitre, of white silk or linen. Bishops and mitred abbots receive their mitres from the bishop who consecrates them. The Greek Church has no mitre properly so called. Since the Reformation the mitre has rarely formed a part of the costume of an English Church dig nitary until within recent years, when it has been adopted by many bishops. See COSTUME,
ECCLESIASTICAL.
the shell of a gastropod mollusk of the genus Mitra and family Mitri 'de, closely allied to the Muricide, so called be cause of its resemblance in form to a bishop's mitre. The shells are thick, somewhat fusi form, with the spire very high and acute, and a small aperture and operculum. The genus is a large one, comprising several hundred species mostly from shallow, tropical seas and especially abundant in the Malayan region. Mitra episcopalis is abundant on the tidal flats of the Philippine Islands. During the day, es pecially at low water, they burrow beneath stones or hide in crevices, but are active at night. They secrete a purple fluid having a nauseating odor and act as scavengers. Con sult Cooke, 'Cambridge Natural History' (Vol. I, 1895).