This paper presents a review of Cretaceous to Eocene genera and species of the Cantharus group of the buccinoidean neogastropod subfamily Pisaniinae, the description of two new genera and one new species, and a nonphylogenetic discussion of character evolution in this group. The new genus Ickarus is introduced for Tritonidea ickei Martin, 1914, from the Nanggulan beds (middle Eocene) of Java, Indonesia. Editharus (type species: Fusus polygonus Lamarck, 1803, middle Eocene of the Paris Basin, France) is a new genus with seven to nine species ranging from the early to late Eocene of Europe. Editharus is unusual in having a labral tooth formed at the angular junction between the adapical and abapical sectors of the outer lip. Editharus angulilabris from the Marinesian (early late Eocene) is a new species from the Paris Basin closely related to E. polygonus. The incidence and expression of several characters has sharply increased in the Cantharus group from the Paleogene to the Neogene. These characters include the presence of lirae (spiral ridges) on the inner side of the outer lip, the presence of a parietal tooth at the adapical end of the inner lip, and determinate growth (as inferred from a unique adult varix). These trends are also exhibited by other Cenozoic gastropod clades.