The ground beetle, Mesomorphus villiger ( Tenebrionidae : Coleoptera ) is one of the important pests of transplanted tobacco crop in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), India, causing losses to an extent of 40% under drought conditions. Investigations on the efficacy of four insecticidal baits viz. monocrotophos 36 WSC @ 0.750 l, endosulfan 35 EC @ 1.0 l, chlorpyrifos 20 EC @ 1.0 l and fenvalerate 20 EC @ 0.375 l in combination with 66 kg of rice bran and 16.5 kg jaggery/ha, application of phorate 10 G @ 5 kg/ha, neem cake powder @ 75 kg/ha and keeping grass heaps at 6-7 m distance apart between rows on the day of planting tobacco and dusting the heaps next day with 5% carbaryl @ 10 kg/ha or with 1.5% chlorpyrifos @ 20 kg/ha against Mesomorphus villiger in newly transplanted tobacco crop in Northern light soils (NLS) of A.P. (India) during 1995-97 showed that the insecticidal baits of monocrotophos, endosulfan and chlorpyrifos were most effective in protecting the tobacco transplants from ground beetle attack followed by fenvalerate bait, phorate granules, keeping grass heaps and dusting with carbaryl/chlorpyrifos. Neem cake was found to be least effective. The order of toxicity to ground beetles is monocrotophos bait >chlorpyrifos bait >endosulfan bait >fenvalerate bait > phorate granules > carbaryl dust > chlorpyrifos dust. Observations on yield data revealed that all the treatments except neem cake showed better grade point index than untreated check. Economics and cost benefit ratio for different treatments revealed that endosulfan bait recorded maximum net returns of Rs 26,270 (US$ 665) and C.B. ratio of 1:1.92 followed by monocrotophos bait Rs 25,280 (US$ 640) and 1:1.89, chlorpyrifos bait Rs 24,469 (US$ 620) and 1:1.86, phorate granules Rs 23,001 (US$ 582) and 1:1.82, fenvalerate bait Rs 22,419 (US$ 568) and 1:1.79, carbaryl dust Rs 21,991 (US$ 557) and 1:1.78, chlorpyrifos dust Rs 21,940 (US$ 555) and 1:1.78 and neem cake Rs 12,857 (US$ 326) and 1:1.46.