The general course of the development is described in the article HYDROZOA. We may distinguish the following series of stages: (1) ovum; (2) cleavage, leading to formation of a blastula; (3) formation of an inner mass or parenchyma, the future endoderm, by immigration or delamination, leading to the so-called parenchymula-stage; (4) formation of an archenteric cavity, the future coelenteron, by a splitting of the internal parenchyma, and of a blastopore, the future mouth, by perforation at one pole, leading to the gastrula-stage; (5) the outgrowth of tentacles round the mouth (blastopore), leading to the actinula-stage; and (6) the actinula becomes the polyp or medusa in the manner described elsewhere (see articles HYDROZOA, POLYP and MEDUSA). This is the full, ideal development, which is always contracted or shortened to a greater or less extent. If the embryo is set free as a free-swimming, so-called planula-larva, in the blastula, parenchymula, or gastrula stage, then a free actinula stage is not found; if, on the other hand, a free actinula occurs, then there is no free planula stage. The cleavage of the ovum follows two types, both seen in _Tubularia_ (Brauer [3]). In the first, a cleavage follows each nuclear division; in the second, the nuclei multiply by division a number of times, and then the ovum divides into as many blastomeres as there are nuclei present. The result of cleavage in all cases is a typical blastula, which when set free becomes oval and develops a flagellum to each cell, but when not set free, it remains spherical in form and has no flagella. The germ-layer formation is always by immigration or delamination, never by invagination. When the blastula is oval and free-swimming the inner mass is formed by unipolar immigration from the hinder pole. When the blastula is spherical and not set free, the germ-layer formation is always multipolar, either by immigration or by delamination, i.e. by tangential division of the cells of the blastoderm, as in _Geryonia_, or by a mixture of immigration and delamination, as in _Hydra_, _Tubularia_, &c. The blastopore is formed as a secondary perforation at one spot, in free-swimming forms at the hinder pole. Formation of archenteron and blastopore may, however, be deferred till a later stage (actinula or after). The actinula stage is usually suppressed or not set free, but it is seen in _Tubularia_ (fig. 48), where it is ambulatory, in _Gonionemus_ (Trachomedusae), and in _Cunina_ (Narcomedusae), where it is parasitic. [Illustration: Modified from a plate by L. Agassiz, _Contributions to Nat. Hist. U.S._, iv. FIG. 48.--Free Actinula of _Tubularia_.]