« Shell subcylindrical, tapered, moderately oblong, oval-roundish when young [here, the author confuses immatures of bulinea with specimens of Risso’s humboldti, a taxon that he synonymizes a few lines down]. Whorls flat, with a beautifully reticulated sculpture made up of crowded equidistant spiral striae crossed by equidistant transversals; suture deep; columella twisted posteriorly, bearing one fold. » – R. T. Lowe: “On Parthenia, a new genus of Recent Marine Shells or Mollusks, containing British Species”, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London part. VIII (1840), London 1841, p.40. The main differences with the shell of the mediterranean humboldti are the taller shape, with an almost horizontal subsutural ramp, and the more strongly marked sculpture.