These lecture notes stemming from a course given at the Nankai Institute
for Mathematics, Tianjin, in 1986 center on the construction of
parametrices for fundamental solutions of hyperbolic differential and
pseudodifferential operators. The greater part collects and organizes
known material relating to these constructions. The first chapter about
constant coefficient operators concludes with the Herglotz-Petrovsky
formula with applications to lacunas. The rest is devoted to
non-degenerate operators. The main novelty is a simple construction of a
global parametrix of a first-order hyperbolic pseudodifferential
operator defined on the product of a manifold and the real line. At the
end, its simplest singularities are analyzed in detail using the
Petrovsky lacuna edition.