The apical whorls are eroded, the following dull cinereous or purplish-black, marked with several spiral rows of white spots, or with longitudinal zigzag white stripes.

The base of the shell is generally tessellated or striped with white.

The upper ones are marked with spiral impressed lines in young specimens, and two carinae, the latter giving the body whorl a squarish form.

Above at the insertion it shows a heavy white callous spread upon the base, invading the umbilicus, and wholly closing it, or leaving only a narrow pit.

This species is quite variable in coloration, the white appearing either in oblique zigzags or in spots.