Ea c h cordylus is a tentacle-like structure with an endodermal axis containing an axial cavity which may be continuous with the ring-canal, or may be partially occluded.
In contrast with the polyp, the longitudinal muscle-system is entirely ectodermal, there being no endodermal muscles in craspedote medusae.
Further, two distinct types of otocyst can be recognized in the Hydro medusae; that of the Leptolinae, in which the entire organ is ectodermal, concrement-cells and all, and the organ is not a tentaculocyst; and that of the Trachylinae, in which the organ is a tentaculocyst, and the concrement-cells are endodermal, derived from the endoderm of the modified tentacle, while the rest of the organ is ectodermal.
In this case the pigment-cells are endodermal, forming a cup of pigment in which the visual cones are embedded.
The endodermal spadix (sp) of the sporosac represents the endoderm of the manubrium; the ectodermal lining of the sporosac (ex.) represents the ex-umbral ectoderm of the medusa; and the intervening layers, together with the sub-umbral cavity, have disappeared.