The protoconch contains two whorls, the first very small, rounded, obliquely set and partly immersed, arousing on casual inspection the unfounded suspicion that it is sinistral.

The subsequent whorls (nine or ten) on the teleoconch at first show a sharp dentate peripheral keel, which afterward becomes spinous and more or less posteriorly directed.

The spiral sculpture consists anteriorly of numerous rather widely separated fine threads, not granulose, but passing over rather coarse lines of growth and less crowded near the keel.

The carina on the tenth whorl shows about twenty-six sharp short subtriangular spines more or less upturned; halfway between the keel and the carina is an elevated second keel, not undulate or dentate but much higher than in Cochlespira elegans.

The transverse sculpture consists of rather coarse prominent lines of growth which are often strongly marked.