Originally posted by jacamar 
Maybe "Twelve Black-Spotted" would be better but there are all sorts of creatures whose names don't match up to what they look like - especially at different seasons of the year (Ring-necked Duck, Red Knot...)
Among common names for organisms there are many that are not-quite-correct, or not-quite precise, or just plain wrong or misleading. Partridgeberry is also called squaw vine, deerberry, checkerberry, running box, winter clover, one berry, and twinberry (how can it be both single and double berry?). The name partridgeberry came from the belief in Europe that the berries were eaten by partridges, which is partially true. On the other hand, bone set, self-heal and heal-all have no demonstrable therapeutic effects. About half of lady bugs are males, and none of them are "bugs"(= Heteroptera), they are all beetles. Mosquito hawks are neither mosquitos nor hawks, and pertinent to the current images, dragonflies are not "flies" (=Diptera) they are Odonata. As to whether they are dragons, that depends on how you imagine dragons to be. They certainly do not resemble the dragons in "The Hobbit" and "Game of Thrones."
Post #1438 by S.M.
Similar Threads 
