Shell up to 30.0 mm in length, broad, sometimes rotund, solid, teleoconch of 6-6% weakly con- vex whorls, protoconch of 3-3 glassy, finely carinate embryonic whorls, sutures narrowly canaliculate; post embryonic whorls with axial riblets and fine spiral striae which either override axials or are confined to interspaces, last 3-4 whorls usually smooth apart from 5-6 spiral cords at base and 4-6 cords on the siphonal fasciole, some individuals with a fine but often obsolete subsutural groove, other individuals with spiral grooves on the dorsal side of body whorl, sutures irregularly undulate or weakly crenulate. Outer lip thick but not variced, interior with 10-15 lirae which extend into aperture, anterior edge of outer lip with some minute spinose denticles, columellar callus narrow and bordered, pro- minently concave and with 10-14 denticles or wrinkles, siphonal notch prominent, anal canal deep and almost 'U'-shaped. Fawn to light tan in colour, body whorl with 2 darker, nebulous bands on body whorl, sutures sometimes with orange-brown and white spots, some individuals streaked with orange-brown and pale zones, columellar callus white, interior of aperture brown, lirae white. TYPE LOCALITY. St. USGS-25715, Kere River, Santo I, Pleistocene of the New Hebrides. DISTRIBUTION. From the Philippines to the New Hebrides. Subtidal, to a depth of 180 m. Type specimens. The juvenile holotype of N. barsdelli Ladd, is in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, No. USNM-214274, length 23.8 mm, width 14.7 mm. Material examined. PHILIPPINES: off Manila Bay, 13°53'N & 120°09'E, 134 m; 13°46'N & 120°24'E, 100-180 m; 14°12'N & 120°29'E, 122-127 m, and 14°16'N & 120°32'E, 70-76 m (all MNHNP). Fossil record. PLEISTOCENE: Kere River, Santo I, New Hebrides (USNM; coll. Buckeridge; coll. Barsdell). The original description of N. barsdelli has been based on a series of about 40 juvenile specimens but not a single adult individual. Cernohorsky (1981b) re-described the species on the basis of adult individuals from the type locality. The record from the Philippines is the only record of living specimens outside the New Hebrides, but it is highly probable that the species still lives in deeper water in the New Hebrides and other areas. The species can be separated from N.bicallosus (E.A.Smith) on features of more rotund shape, longer body whorl, non-nodose sutures, different columellar denticles, and the very long lirae which extend into the aperture in N. barsdelli.