Diagnosis: Shell large (60 mm), b/1 0,31-0,33, a/1 0,37, whorls with a slight shoulder, siphonal canal moderately short, tip oblique but scarcely truncate, with at most a shallow notch; aperture narrow, fasciole sometimes strong; labrum weakly crenulate, stromboid notch well-developed, anal sinus openly U-shaped, directed slightly adapically, parietal nodule relatively small, rounded, situated below posterior angle of aperture; subsutural cord weak and narrow, shoulder sulcus rather shallow and declivous; axial ribs moderately strong, strongly opisthocline, terminating abruptly at shoulder, 11-13 on penultimate whorl, usually bearing weak, transverse nodules where crossed by spiral cords, which in rib intervals are low, flattened and subequal to their intervals, 6-8 spirals below sulcus on penultimate whorl; intervals with microspiral striae (visible mainly on shoulder sulcus) and pliculate growth-threads; a single thick varix just behind lip. Cream or light brown, spiral lirae dotted with darker brown, sometimes with diffuse blotches or zones of brown, peripheral nodules pale. Protoconch bluntly conical, of slightly over 3 whorls, breadth 0,93-0,98 mm.
Description: Shell claviform (b/l 0,31-0,33, a/1 0,37), with moderately short, oblique but scarcely truncate rostrum, bent slightly to right; teleoconch whorls about 11; suture moderately deep; whorls convex with median periphery and slight shoulder; subsutural cord rounded, narrow and weak, bordered by a moderately shallow, declivous sulcus; left side of base of body whorl concave, fasciole sometimes strong, with distinct false umbilicus. Aperture lanceolate, greatest width at about posterior quarter, columella almost straight, siphonal canal moderately wide, parallel-sided, termination shallowly or not indented; labial callus thick, with outer edge free on columella, parietal pad relatively small and rounded, non¬terminal (sometimes situated as much as half-way down parietal region); labrum strongly convex in side-view, crenulate, with well-developed stromboid notch; anal sinus deeply and openly U-shaped, inclined slightly adapically, bordered below by a slightly alate angle.
Sculptured by strong axial ribs, crossed by weaker spiral lirae, more or less nodular at intersections, particularly on last part of body whorl; overall with dense,
fine, pliculate growth lines, with microscopic interstitial spiral striae visible in places (particularly in shoulder sulcus); a thick varix behind lip. Axial ribs opisthocline, rather straight, suture-to-suture until 6th whorl, thereafter obsolete on subsutural cord and sulcus, weak on base of body whorl, but reaching rostrum; ribs subequal to their intervals, erests rounded, sides gradually sloping; 9-10 ribs on 1st whorl, 11-13 on penultimate one. Spiral lirae rounded on ribs, somewhat flattened in intervals, main ones equal to their intervals, 1st whorl with a total of 8-9 very weak, close threads; penultimate whorl with 6-8 lirae below sulcus, base of body whorl with 18-20 lirae, at parietal level alternately weaker and stronger, becoming weak, wide-set and more angular on rostrum. Interstitial spiral striae: 2—10 per interval, 3-6 on subsutural cord, 14-24 in sulcus, sometimes absent in places.
Colour yellowish-white to pale orange-yellow, spiral lirae with dots of white and light to moderate brown, sometimes diffusely blotched or spirally zoned with light to moderate brown, axial ribs generally pale in peripheral area and on base of body whorl.
Protoconch bluntly conical, of slightly over 3 whorls, first whorl depressed and slightly immersed; smooth except for faint terminal axials; breadth 0,93-0.98 mm, height 0,88-0,98 mm (b/h 1,00-1,06).
Dimensions: 58,0 x 17,1 mm (holotype); 61.7 x 19,0 mm, 48,2 x 16.0 mm (largest and smallest adult paratypes respectively).
Operculum oblanceolate, with acute apex, translucent yellowish.
Radula of about 20 rows of marginal plates, shaft relatively long.

F. asra resembles F. tayloriana (Reeve, 1846) in the fine growthplicules and speckled, more or less granular spiral lirae, but is a much larger species with more convex whorls and more oblique axial ribs, while the shoulder slope has microscopic spiral striae rather than 2-4 threads. It resembles Inquisitor flavidulus (Lamarck, 1822) in many respects, but that has distinct microcancellate sculpture, and a relatively feeble subsutural cord.

South-Africa. Continental shelf of Natal and Zululand, 85-120 m, sand and sponge.