Shell rather large, fusiform, rather thin, translucent white with very little lustre. It has a high, regularly tapered spire of six obtusely shouldered whorls, not counting the nucleus which is broken off, and a long, nearly straight columella and a broad, straight aperture occupying about half the length of the shell. Posterior sinus as broad as the subsutural band, shallow, slightly broken. Outer lip thin, curving very gently to join the columella with but a very slight bending in anteriorly, not forming a well-defined canal. Columella with a thin, narrow strip of enamel extending its entire length. Suture inconspicuous. Subsutural band rather broad, oblique, crossed by delicate slightly curved riblets, most distinct on the upper whorls. Narrow, oblique, angular ribs, fifteen on the body whorl, separated by rather deep, narrow spaces, cross the whorls, rising just above the periphery and not quite reaching to the suture; these are cut just above the middle by a broad, shallow groove, making them appear, especially on the body whorl, as two rows of nodules. In some positions of the shell there seems to be a second similar groove (scarcely discernible) below this one. The spiral sculpture is very irregular. On the body whorl, below the transverse ribs, there are from twenty-five to thirty shallow grooves, varying in width, and having between them flattened bands or threads. On the canal they are so close together that their interspaces appear like rounded threads ; above these, about the middle of the whorl, they are very broad, and separated by equally broad flattened bands, while still above these, below the ribs, they are again narrowed and separated by flattened threads. On the ribs the grooves also vary considerably. On each side of the principal groove, a rather broad, flattened thread forms a slight crest on the summit of the ribs, and beyond the lower one of these there are two or three fine rounded threads. The principal groove is also interrupted by a rounded thread at about the middle, and two or three very faint ones above and below it. On the upper part of the ribs there are two or three unequal grooves. On the penultimate whorl there are four grooves below the principal one, separated by nearly equal spaces, with but a single rounded thread on the centre of the first or principal one. With the exception of the subsutural band, the surface is covered with microscopic striae, which, in intersecting the inconspicuous lines of growth, give a peculiar crinkled appearance to the surface.
Length, 30 mm.; breadth, 12 mm.; length of aperture, 15.5 mm.; greatest breadth, 5.5 mm. This species is easily distinguished by the character of its sculpture.

Distribution. From the southern part of the bay of Biscay and southwards in the Eastern Atlantic, bathyal. Only known from the material examined.
Remarks. The radula of P. sulcifera is unusually small, the teeth being only c. 100 µm long. The animal has big, well-developed eyes, furnished with a lens. No operculum.
P. sulcifera can hardly be confused with any known E. Atlantic turrid, except P. chevreuxi (see that species) and perhaps Belomitra or Vexithara richardi (Dautzenberg & Fischer), but that species has a more solid shell, direct development and much stronger spiral sculpture.

USA. North Carolina. Cape Fear.