(343)  CROWNED: THE CASE OF COLLETTE’S CHIN

The missing jaw bones of the fin whale stranded on Coll in February and known as Collette (see No 339) were located in their island hideaway on 1 April 2004, having proved rather too massive, smelly and difficult for the takers to strip of their flesh and blubber for display.  It is understood that the bones will now rejoin the rest of Collette’s skeleton at the National Museums of Scotland, which has had no fin whale in its collection before.  Islanders complained that the bones would be hidden from public view for the NMS’s research purposes, and argued that they could have formed a major tourist attraction in Coll.  An NMS curator said We normally have a series of guided tours