Nassarius fossatus: Shell broad-ovate, elongated, thin, livid, ash-colored, encircled through¬out with raised ridges, of a deeper color, interspaces of about equal width. On the upper whorls these ridges are formed into coarse granules by longitudinal folds about equally distant, but more shallow. On the upper slope of the last whorl, in some specimens these are increased so as to become conspicuous, very oblique waves or nodules, terminating at the middle of the whorl. Spire of seven convex whorls, the last of which is ventricose, and has the usually constricted, posterior groove encircling the beak, excavated into a broad, remarkably deep canal; suture linear. Aperture broad, quadrate-ovate; lip sharp, simple, oblique posteriorly, parallel to the axis laterally and perpendicular to it at the base, thus forming an obtuse angle at the posterior third, and a right angle at its anterior limit, which is a little in advance of the point of the beak; siphonal notch broad, short, scarcely reflexed; pillar covered with a thin layer of enamel, but in general not enough to obliterate the groove and ridges, so that it appears corrugated throughout. In old specimens, the callus rises into an elevated marginal wall, with oblique folds and a canal at the angle posteriorly; interior of the aperture with sharp, raised revolving lines. Length, 1 ¼ inch breadth, 4/5 in. (Gould.)
Type locality, Puget Sound at the mouth of the Columbia River. RANGE. Vancouver Island to Cerros Island, Lower California.