  The quasi-classical limit of the scalar nonlocal dbar-problem is derived and
a quasi-classical version of the dbar-dressing method is presented.
Dispersionless KP, mKP and 2DTL hierarchies are discussed as illustrative
examples. It is shown that the universal Whitham hierarchy it is nothing but
the ring of symmetries for the quasi-classical dbar-problem. The reduction
problem is discussed and, in particular, the d2DTL equation of B type is
derived.
