Graves specialised in butterflies (Lepidoptera) of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, often working with Robert Eldon Ellison, a career diplomat andfellow Irishman (born in Wingstown, near Dublin).
His published work on insects reflects the strengths of his collection but not its extent. In 1938, for instance, he presented more than 2,500 specimens to the Natural History Museum, London. These are described in the catalogue of acquisitions Rhopalocera (Levant and Balkans). There are a few specimens, including an excellent series of Archon apollinus in the Ulster Museum, Belfast.
His published work on insects includes:
- Collecting Lepidoptera in Syria, 1905 Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var 18:125-6 (1906).
- Collecting in Syria: Ain Zhalta in May -June 1905. Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var 18:149-152 (1906).
- A contribution to the fauna of Syria Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var 23: 31-36 (1910).
- Two new Lycaenid subspecies from the Lebanon Entomologist 56: 154-157(1925).
- The Rhopalocera and Grypocera of Palestine and Transjordania Trans. Ent. Soc., London, 1925 17-125 (1925).
- with Ellison, R.E. The butterflies of the Jabal Quinesia, Lebanon Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var 40:177-180 ( 1938).
An account of Graves work in entomology is given in Hesselbarth, G.; Oorschot, H. van & Wagener, S., 1975
Die Schmetterlinge der Türkei, Band 2: 1179 - 1199 [B 2189:2].
He is commemorated in the subspecies of the Brimstone butterfly found in Ireland,
Gonepteryx rhamni gravesi Huggins, 1956.