Shell reaching 88 mm. (about 3,5 inches), imperforate, very solid, smooth, axially costate and knobbed. Color ivory to pale pink, overlaid with a complicated pattern of spiral lines and dots with axial threads of color lines between the spiral lines. Irregular lines of spiral dots appear above and below the thin spiral lines. On the inside of the outer lip there are several dark brown spots which are sometimes grouped in couples, in others, these spots occur singly. Spire moderately extended and produced at an angle of about 55° (males) and 70° (females). Aperture relatively wide and oblique. Outer lip thick and recurved. Parietal wall smooth, with a thin glaze and having several plicae, the lower 5 being fairly strong, the upper 2 to 6 being rather weak. Occasionally, small secondary plicae occur between the large lower 5 plicae. These plicae follow back along the columella to the earliest whorls. Columella short and arched backwardly. Suture slightly impressed and irregular owing to the axial knobs. Sculpture consisting of large rounded knobs at the whorl shoulder. These are the end points of the axial ridges which become narrow and lower below and generally disappear at about the whorl periphery. Protoconch smooth, generally a dark brown in color and consisting of two whorls. Oper¬culum unguiculate, about one-fourth the length of the aperture, corneous with concentric lines of growth and a subterminal nucleus.
The radula is uniserial, composed entirely of rachidian teeth, rather wide and having two large marginal denticles and 7 to 12 much smaller central denticles.
Foot divided anteriorly, pale ivory with large, irregularly placed, somewhat diffused purple-brown pigment spots which are interspersed with numerous small red-brown speckles. Head and edge of mantle similarly colored. Eyes small, black and located at the base of the tentacles.

Valuta musica is an exceedingly variable species in all of its shell morphology. The large number of names in the synonymy above are based upon these variations. Even specimens in unit populations exhibit differences in size, coloration, extent of the color pattern and in the size and number of the axial plicae. None of these variations appear to have any geographic significance. V. musica Linne differs from V. ebraea Linne by being smaller, having the shoulder knobs blunter and having a different color pattern. The largest specimen of musica we have seen reached 88 mm. while the largest specimen of ebraea measured 206 mm. in length. The operculum differs from that of V. ebraea by having the nucleus subterminal, the growth lines concentric and reaching from one margin to the other. In V. ebraea the nucleus is subcentral with the growth lines subcircular.
Sexual dimorphism is exhibited in the shells of this species: the heavy and strongly knobbed broad specimens being females; the more numerous and narrower specimens being males.

TYPE: Lectotype, selected by Olsson (1965), Linnaean Collection, London, No. 370. TYPE LOCALITY: Restricted by Clench and Turner (1964) to Barbados, British West Indies. RANGE: The southeastern Caribbean Sea, eastward along the coast of Venezuela, then north through the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic. HABITAT: From the littoral to 5 fathoms on a sand substrate (Abbott, in litt.). DIMENSIONS: Adult specimens are 38 to 90 mm in length. SHELL DESCRIPTION: Shell is variable in color and shape. Typically it is medium in size and is solid, with a moderately extended spire. Protoconch is turbinate and smooth, of about three whorls. Teleoconch has four and a half longitudinally plicate whorls, strongly knobbed at the shoulders. Suture is irregular and impressed. Aperture is long and rather wide. The outer lip is reflected; interior peach colored. Siphonal notch is deep; fasciole present. Columella is glazed, with numerous folds, the anterior five or six forming strong plaits. Base color is ivory or pinkish-white, overlaid with an intricate design of spiral lines and dots resembling written music. Inner margin of outer lip often has a number of large brown spots. ANIMAL AND RADULA: According to Clench and Turner (1964), the radula is uniserial with broad multicuspid teeth that have two large marginal cusps and seven to 12 much smaller central cusps. The foot is divided anteriorly; its color is pale ivory with large, irregularly placed, somewhat scat- tered, purple-brown pigment spots interspersed with numerous small, red-brown speckles. The head and edge of the mantle are similarly colored. The eyes are small and black and are located at the base of the tentacles. REMARKS: There is a great deal of variation among popula- tions of Voluta musica from different coastal areas and islands along its geographical range. Furthermore, when the soft parts were examined to determine sex, it was found that the smaller, narrower, less nodulose shells were males; whereas the larger, broader, and more strongly knobbed shells were females. In the past, authors have given both the geographical and sexual variants Latin names. We agree with Clench and Turner (1964), who relegated these names to the synonymy of musica. The species is common in certain localities.A specimen of Voluta demarcoi Olsson, 1965, taken in 100 fathoms off El Mezquital, Mexico, with the animal intact, was sent to us by Mr. Simon De Marco. Subsequently, the shell and animal were forwarded to Drs. Clench and Turner, who established that it was a male specimen and anatomically equal to animals of typical Voluta musica. Because of its geographical isolation from the northwestern end of the range of musica, and because of its constant mor- phological characteristics which differentiate it from typical musica, we are here treating demarcoi as a valid subspecies.

From Hispaniola (= Dominican Republic) south through the Lesser Antilles and south to British Guiana. This appears to be a rather common species in the southern Lesser Antilles, but exceedingly rare in the northern portion of its range. Warmke and Abbott report this species from near Guanica, Puerto Rico. No species of Valuta s.s. occurs on the west coast of Africa. Even as late as 1907 Dall gave several African localities for V. ebraea Linne and V. virescens Solander. Early "records" for West Africa have been copied repeatedly from one monograph to another. Nickles (1950) in his study of West African marine mollusks does not mention the genus.

Dall referred to and described Valuta musica typica Lamarck. Very probably Dall meant only the word "typical" in reference to the main species, as no such name was instituted by Lamarck. Nonetheless, this name appears as a validly introduced trinomial and has been used by subsequent students.