Stationery from the Hotel Ware, Waycross, GA – “Fireproof, Circulating Ice Water, Ceiling Fans.”

Sunday 6PM.

My dear Sweetheart,

This is a right good little town. It is high and from all appearances it has been dry. It is raining now, and I’ve been in showers all day. Spent last night at the Methodist Hotel in Savannah where you and I stopped the first time. Had a better room last night. Made most of the cage collections at Savannah last night. Used a flash light.

July 12, 1931

Had a detour in coming here today. It lasted for 32 miles of sandy road. Haven’t seen anyone about the problem here. It is so late on Sunday PM that I do not intend to do more than make an appointment for tomorrow A.M. The town does not look like a sand fly town. I would not suspect Phlebotomus here. It looks like the rapid running streams through the town might furnish a lot of Buffalo gnats (Simuliium). I have an idea that they are the ones that give trouble.

With love

Your
Walter.

Walter is starting his sand-fly work, looking for ways to combat these biting flies that infest the marshes of the Southeastern coasts. One result of this work will be the naming of a species, Culicoides dovei. I’ve always found it amusing that our family has an annoying pest named after it.