Shell solid, pyriformly ovate, ventricose, highly enamelled, whitish, besmeared with chestnut, and thickly spotted with a similar but darker coloration; base white, sides with more numerous spots more or less of a violet tinge. Aperture somewhat twisted, teeth well developed. Spire deeply umbilicated. Size: 4 inches. An extremely solid and heavy species. Much variation in colour exists and series of specimens can be graded from the typical dark chestnut through to light shells with few markings. Albinos sometimes appear and are known as howelli Iredale, 1931. A smaller (3 inches) dark form with a distinct ventral blotch is called beddomei Schilder, 1930.

Localities: Victoria: Cape Schanck; Gippsland coast; dredged Bass Strait. Known for many years as Cypraea umbilicata Sowerby, 1825, a preoccupied name, this shell was first obtained in quantity by the trawler Endeavour while dredging in Bass Strait. It also occurs off the southern New South Wales and Tasmanian coasts. South-eastern Australia appears to be the metropolis of this handsome cowry; worn specimens occasionally wash up on the beaches but living examples are generally secured through trawling operations, the principal source of supply.