We cannot therefore be astonished that by far the majority of petrifactions belong to organisms which have lived in the sea, and that of the inhabitants of the land proportionately only very few are preserved in a fossil state.
Most of them possess solid calcareous or flinty shells of an extremely beautiful construction, which can be perfectly preserved in a fossil state.
It is important to notice that fossil Rhinoceroses belonging to the restricted genus Rhinoceros were in Europe invariably two-horned; it is only in India, where they still exist, that one-horned forms are met with in a fossil state.
The existing forms are known in a fossil, or at least sub-fossil state, from diluvial deposits; and it is interesting to note that the African Elephant had formerly a wider range than now.
Occasional Discovery of the missing Links in a Fossil State.
The marine fauna of this last period contains, both in Ireland and Scotland, Recent species of mollusca now living in Greenland and other seas far north of the areas where we find their remains in a fossil state.
Their seed-vessels are covered with a very tough integument, capable of resisting decomposition; to which circumstance we may attribute their abundance in a fossil state.
Their age may be recognized either by our finding in them the bones of man in a fossil state, that is to say, imbedded in them by natural causes, or by their containing articles fabricated by the hands of man.
The absence of a recognisable covering to the skin in a fossil state cannot be accepted as conclusive evidence of the temperature, habits, or affinities of the animal.
There is no evidence of this in a fossil state, although in a few birds the rings of the trachaea become ossified, and are preserved.
Species of recent shells, or those still existing, are also often found in a fossil state, while many fossil genera are now totally unknown in our earth and waters.
Clavagella was till lately considered as existing only in a fossil state.
They are only known in a fossil state, belonging to the more ancient strata.
The above list will hopefully provide you with a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "fossil state" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this group of words.
