What is "cervus virginianus"

Deer \Deer\ (d[=e]r), n. sing. & pl. [OE. der, deor, animal, wild animal, AS. de['o]r; akin to D. dier, OFries. diar, G. thier, tier, Icel. d[=y]r, Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, Goth. dius; of unknown origin. [root]7

1. ] 1. Any animal; especially, a wild animal. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

   Mice and rats, and such small deer.
   --Shak.

   The camel, that great deer.
   --Lindisfarne MS.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervid[ae]. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison.

   Note: The deer hunted in England is Cervus elaphus, called also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is Cervus dama; the common American deer is Cervus Virginianus; the blacktailed deer of Western North America is Cervus Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is Cervus macrotis. See Axis, Fallow deer, Mule deer, Reindeer.

   Note: Deer is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, deerkiller, deerslayer, deerslaying, deer hunting, deer stealing, deerlike, etc.

   Deer mouse (Zo["o]l.), the white-footed mouse ( Peromyscus leucopus, formerly Hesperomys leucopus) of America.

   Small deer, petty game, not worth pursuing; -- used metaphorically. (See citation from Shakespeare under the first definition, above.) ``Minor critics . . . can find leisure for the chase of such small deer.''
   --G. P. Marsh.