




DR. ARTHUR H. McCRAY 
. Dr. Arthur H. McCray, formerly of the Bureau of Entomology, and more 
recently State Bacteriologist of Montana, died of spotted fever on June 14, 1919. 
Doctor McCray was born November 14, 1880. He came to the Bee-Culture 
_Laboratory April 15, 1908, from the Ohio State University where he received his 
bachelor’s degree in June, 1908. During his stay in Washington he graduated in 
| veterinary medicine in 1911 and also from the Medical Department of George 
Washington University in 1915. Most of his attention was given to bee-disease 
work, as he had charge of the examination of samples of suspected brood sent in 
for examination. In 1915 he began investigational work in this field and prepared 
a paper issued in the Journal of Agricultural Research entitled "Spore-Forming 
Bacteria of the Apiary" and also collaborated with Dr. G. F. White in preparing a 
bulletin on "The Diagnosis of Bee Diseases by Laboratory Methods." 
After being transferred, for a few months, to the work on insects affecting 
the health of.man, he was appointed to the position of State Bacteriologist of 
Montana, in September, 1917, and this position he held until his death. He was 
engaged in investigations of spotted fever and it is supposed that he contracted 
this disease while making a postmortem examination of a guinea pig which he had 
inoculated with the virus of the disease. In addition to his independent investi- 
gations, he was collaborating with the investigator of the Rockefeller Institute 
and had prepared a strain of spotted fever virus which was forwarded to New York 
after his death. Doctor McCray was ill of the disease for eleven days but a diag- 
nosis was not made until he himself discovered the symptoms of spotted fever. 
There was no hope of recovery for several days before his death and during periods 
of consciousness he arranged the details of his funeral. 
Doctor McCray died a martyr to the work in which he was engaged and his 
death, while causing deep regret among his friends in the Bureau, yet brings 
pride to his former associates in having known him. Their feelings are well ex- 
pressed in a statement made by Governor Stewart of Montana: "...It is a pitiful 
tragedy that he should die while seeking the means to save the lives of others from 
this terrible malady. Not less bravely than a soldier he dared death for his fel- 
lowman and that he should be taken from us in the prime of life and. at a time 
when he was almost on the threshold of the discovery of a preventive or a cure for 
spotted fever is the irony of fate. To the state he leaves a legacy of work well 
performed and to his loving wife and mother the memory of a splendid husband and 
tee ier. P 



CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECT INVESTIGATIONS 
Waar: Walton, Entomologist. in Charge 
Di Prather Perry and K. W. Babcock have been granted temporary appointments 
