PS to Jerry: your recollection ( Ada's sister,
the Artemisia/dracunculi, being Lucette, the sister of
another Ada) is amazing. I'd tried to simplify the original allusion
(the "rankle/dragon" seemed so concisely elegant and independent) and missed
the additional twist. One might suppose the author altered the gender of
his characters ( Lucette as an untouchable boy, her half-virginity has always
puzzled me and Van's atypical rejection of her).
Nabokov's awareness of the "artemisia-ada"
historical relationship and about the "artemisia-dracunculi" connection
might have inspired him, secondarily, to name the novel's
character, Ada. Nevertheless, in this case "dracunculi" would have
deserved a noisier reference. Would LATH's "Iris" offer any
confirmation?