Shell ovately fusiform, smooth and glossy but not highly polished. Anterior canal weakly produced, the small sinus forming a fasciole indicated chiefly by direction of growth lines and slightly paler color, not distinctly bounded by any sculptural cord or ridge. Length 42.5 mm; maximum diameter 18 mm; length of body whorl 27 mm. Whorls seven, of which 1,5 compose the small, smooth protoconch, which is not sharply distinguished from the postnuclear whorls; the following 2,5 whorls sculptured by low, rounded axial undulations which slowly diminish on the next two whorls, until the body whorl becomes quite smooth, marked only by microscopic axial growth lines. Spiral sculpture virtually nonexistent, the postnuclear whorls showing only the faintest indication of widely spaced spiral striation. Outer lip slightly thickened, not denticulate within. Columella with three prominent folds, the middle one strongest, the posterior one weakest; parietal wall with 12 narrow, raised ridges, the anterior ones much weaker than the adjacent columellar fold, the posterior ones very faint.
Ground color vinaceous tan, suture with a diffuse pale spiral line, faint indication of a pale spiral band below the suture, another below the middle of the body whorl, and one along the fasciole. A color pattern of reddish brown spots begins about the third whorl, becoming more distinct on the succeeding whorls; body whorl with eight spiral rows of bilobed, heartshaped, or squarish spots arranged in axial rows not strictly conforming with the contour of the lip. Four marginal spots clearly visible through the edge of the lip and a fifth (the anteriormost) less distinctly so. A small area of whitish callus lies adjacent to the posterior angle of the aperture; parietal area without color pattern, as if the outermost layer of shell has been planed off by the advancing edge of the mantle. This color pattern results in a shell resembling a small Scaphella or a spotted Aurinia.
The gross external features of the soft parts agree with the description of those of Voluta given by Clench & Turner (1964). The siphon has a pair of unequal basal lobes, the left one the larger. The head is strongly flattened, with a broad frontal lobe lying between the tentacles. The tentacles are flattened, tapering, the right one broader than the left. A broad lateral lobe lies on each side of the head behind the tentacles, the right one larger than the left. The eyes are situated near the anterior margin of the lateral cephalic lobes near their junction with the tentacles. The broad, flattened proboscis extends from beneath the frontal lobe. The operculum is situated on a prominent opercular pad on the dorsal side of the foot near its posterior end. The uniserial radula has a tricuspid rachidian with a series of small, but distinct, denticulations between the cusps.

Type locality: ESE of Santo Domingo, 174 m.
Range: Southeast of Santo Domingo, Hispaniola and south of Puerto Rico. Habitat: A deep water inhabitant, holotype taken in lobster pot at a depth of 175 m.
Description: Shell is of light structure, ovate-fusiform, with a silky surface, measuring around 45 mm. Protoconch is small, smooth of one and a half whorls. Spire is moderately high. Teleoconch is of seven slighty convex whorls, the first two sculptured with low rounded axial ribs slowly diminishing onto the next two ones, the body whorl is smooth. Aperture semilunar measuring 0.65 of the total length. Outer lip is slightly thickened. Columella is arched bearing three columellar plaits followed by numerous striations. Siphonal notch is very shallow and broad.
Background colour is wine-coloured, with subsutural, mid body and anterior paler bands, sprinkled with eight spiral rows of heart-shaped or squarish brown dots, giving the shell a scaphellid appearance.
Animal: The living animal is like a yellow and white stained glass window with alternance of yellow and white areas framed by brown lines.
Its general anatomy has been well detailed by Bayer (1971). The uniserial radula has a tricuspid rachidian with a series of small denticulations between the cusps.
Comparison: Regarding the smoothness of the shell, L. (L.) cordis resembles Lyria (L.) vegai Clench & Turner, 1967 but its colouration is different and makes this shell unmistakable.
Remarks: One of the rarest volutes, known only from four or five specimens.
Owing to the presence of fine denticulations notching the radula, Bayer created the subgenus Cordilyria for this species. However, the same character is also found for Lyria beaui archeri and does not seem to have subgeneric value in nature.
It is noticeable that such a scaphellid pattern, only in the genus Lyria, occurs in a region where Scaphellinae species are dominant. Is it a case of evolution towards Batesian mimicry?

By its smooth shell, Lyria cordis resembles Lyria (s.s.) vegai Clench & Turner, 1967, also from Hispaniola, but its coloration and shape differ markedly. The aperture is longer and narrower, occupying 64 per cent of the total length in contrast to 56 per cent in L. vegai (calculated from published photograph), resulting in a more "scaphelloid" shape. This Scaphella-like appearance is accentuated by the color pattern of reddish brown spots arranged in regular spiral rows. The columella has three well-developed plications and a dozen parietal ridges, compared with two strong and one weak plication and only three or four parietal ridges in L. vegai. L. cordis has a smaller shell, evidently maturing at a little over 40 mm rather than reaching 60 mm as in L. vegai. In its general shape, Lyria cordis seems to approach L. beaui (as figured by Fischer & Bernardi, reproduced by Clench & Turner, 1967: figs. 2-3) more closely than does L. vegai, but Fischer & Bernardi's figure seems to be a little misleading as shown by modern colored photographs. Lyria cordis lacks axial costae on the later whorls.