  We use ideas of the geometry of bihamiltonian manifolds, developed by
Gel'fand and Zakharevich, to study the KP equations. In this approach they have
the form of local conservation laws, and can be traded for a system of ordinary
differential equations of Riccati type, which we call the Central System. We
show that the latter can be linearized by means of a Darboux covering, and we
use this procedure as an alternative technique to construct rational solutions
of the KP equations.
